A pet parrot that escaped from its home was remarkably discovered two towns away at a school and reunited with family.
Leaving through a door open ajar on Monday, June 22 at 7.50am, Polly the parrot, about age 3, flew around the garden before disappearing over the house.
In tears, hairdresser Deborah Edwards, who is looking after the parrot for her mother, searched the neighbourhood for Polly, but it took more than 24 hours before she was found.
Deborah told Northwood&RuislipNews: “I walked four miles crying my eyes out, shouting ‘Polly’. I was absolutely distraught. I didn’t know what to do.
“She always flies to me, sits on my shoulder, eats my glasses, and says, ‘What’s up?’ I was more upset about not being able to hear her ask me, ‘What’s up?’ anymore. I could hear birds talking and singing when looking for her and I just kept thinking it was Polly.
“I came back to the house, put the cage outside, my sister came over – nothing. We just felt so dead because I couldn’t tell my mum. My mum was in hospital waiting for X-ray results, and to tell her would have felt like the final nail in the coffin.”
The hairdresser had been looking after Polly for about six weeks and said she and the parrot had become very attached.
A resident advised Deborah to post on a Ruislip community Facebook page, but she later removed it in case her mother saw it.
Deborah said: “I felt really hopeless then because I thought no one’s going to be able to get hold of me.
“I got on with my day at work, and as I was about to cut a lady’s hair, my watch – which never normally shows messages – suddenly came up saying, ‘We think we might have your bird’.
“I literally flew off the stool and was having a panic attack.”
She then called the number, which was Glebe School in Ickenham, and cried to a lady repeatedly saying, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure?’. Deborah said: “I just couldn’t believe it.”
The school provided Polly with food and water and claimed he was fine – just exhausted and dehydrated.
Deborah added: “The school staff were so kind. One woman actually dropped him off to my workplace. It was a lovely reunion. She hasn’t left my side since.
“I drove all the way home and went to see my mum and I told her the whole story. Being able to tell her the full story and that Polly had come home was amazing.”
Feature image: Deborah Edwards
0 Comments