A viral video of a pet parrot’s rescue and reunion with her owner of 20 years has the sweetest backstory.
Indy the sun conure’s owner Natalie, who preferred to be known just by her first name, said that once she realised her longtime pet had flown out her door, she herself flew into a panic.
Above: The heroic rescue of Indy the sun conure by Wildlife Noosa volunteers last Sunday.
“She doesn’t have her wings clipped, as she has free rein and flies around the house,” she said.
“She doesn’t want to leave, so it was not an escape attempt, just a terrible accident and bad timing.”
She said last Sunday morning, Indy went to fly onto the screen door just as she was going outside and, in her confusion, Indy flew out.
Natalie said she couldn’t see Indy around her Tewantin backyard. She had no idea she was perched 20-30 metres high in a gumtree.
“It was just terrifying, incredibly overwhelming and devastating,” she said.
“But incredibly, Indy began calling out to me from the tree.”
As sun conures are known to have the intellect of about a three-year-old, Natalie said it was no surprise Indy was trying to “talk to her”.
“She’s quite small but I know what she sounds like compared to other birds,” she said.
“She was saying ‘come and get me down’ because she flies onto the screen doors, but she won’t fly off the screen. She yells at me to get her down.
“She was terrified. It was windy and she had butcher birds stalking her and myna birds bombing her.”
Natalie’s first point of call was the fire brigade, who advised her that if the situation became more critical, they could help. She then tried Australia Zoo, who said to try someone more local.
At a loss, she decided to daringly attempt to rescue Indy herself.
“I put the ladder on top of the car, I would have been maybe 15 meters up in the tree at this point, which was terrifying,” she said.
“But I couldn’t reach her, I was still way off.”
Her neighbour then suggested she try Wildlife Noosa.
“They were there within about half an hour,” she said.
“She was eventually rescued … there was so many tears and so much relief.
“If she hadn’t been rescued, she would have died. Wildlife Noosa were absolutely amazing … I am so grateful.”
She said Indy was native to South America and had been domesticated for so long she now preferred to be inside.
“She almost considers herself kind of quasi human. You can’t can’t just release a bird like that,” she said.
“I think that is really irresponsible.
“They’re very cheeky, very inquisitive with a clown-like personality, but also incredibly affectionate and communicate so much in different ways.”
She said she found it fascinating that people were so interested in Wildlife Noosa’s video of the rescue, which currently has about 252,000 views on Facebook.
Wildlife Noosa founder William Watson said helping to ensure the 20-year friendship between beautiful Indy and Natalie was not broken was a wonderful outcome.
He explained the rescue in detail.
“Indy was at the top of a very large tree, unsure of her surroundings … we needed to get her down and reunite her with her loving family,” he said.
“We attached various pieces of equipment to the end of our extendable poles but didn’t have any success.
“Indy loves pistachios, so we filled one of her feeding bowls full of her favourite treat and attached this and one of her perches to our extendable pole.
“Standing on an extension ladder and carefully raising our extendable pole up to Indy, we were hopeful that she would come to her bowl.
“We all watched on in elation as Indy came to her feed bowl and hopped up onto the perch and began tucking into her pistachios.
“We held our breath as we ever so slowly and carefully lowered Indy down where she was finally able to be reunited with a loving embrace from her best friend.
“It was the perfect outcome for what initially looked like an impossible rescue. We were so glad to be able to help this beautiful family.”
He said Wildlife Noosa was always there for the community, whether it was a native animal in need or a much-loved family pet.
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