It all started when Pedro the Parrot escaped from his cage in Margaret Wallace’s Delaware home on Sunday evening. The quaker parrot has been her pet for more than 20 years and, when she returned home to find him missing, she was devastated.
Fortunately, Pedro’s adventure has a happy ending.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see him again,” Wallace said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Hours later, he was discovered about a hundred feet up in a tree. Wallace’s nurse of eight years, Michelle Boisseau, called the fire department to get him down but, when firefighters got close to him with their ladder, he flew away.
Wallace’s neighbors and nurse got the word out about the missing parrot in a post on a Delaware Facebook page, asking everyone to keep an eye out for him — because Wallace, confined to a wheelchair and on a ventilator, couldn’t look for him herself.
In no time, the post was shared almost 200 times, with lots of supportive comments and promises to help. Soon Boisseau’s phone was ringing off the hook with people calling and offering to assist in the search.
“People were so nice,” Boisseau said. “I had people calling nonstop, saying they had a few minutes free to help me go search for him. As a nurse, I see so many sad thing and unfair things, but this was just amazing. Really renews my faith in humanity when I see so many people coming together, willing to help a lady, especially all for a parrot.”
Katie Mayer, a resident of the neighborhood, was tagged to the missing parrot post on Facebook by a friend and, as an animal lover, she said she really wanted to help Wallace find her parrot. Mayer said she started walking around the neighborhood early the next morning, calling his name and asking around to see if he’d been seen.
Soon after, Mayer found him in a field on Central Avenue about 30 feet up in a tree.
“It was a battle, that’s for sure,” Mayer said. “He stayed up there two days and it was quite the couple of days, especially with all those huge thunderstorms.”
Mayer and residents kept an eye on him through it all though, trying to coax him down with food and comforting sounds, even bringing his cage out to the field.
“It was amazing how it became such a community thing,” she said. “Neighbors came out with lawn chairs and binoculars, watching him in the tree. It was really great to see that.”
Michael Church from Michael’s Carpentry came out early Wednesday morning with his bucket truck to help retrieve Pedro.
Church safely rescued him and Pedro was returned home.
“I was just so happy and relieved to have him home,” Wallace said. “It was a miracle.”
Now that he’s home after an exhausting and famishing few days, Wallace said he’s been eating and sleeping like crazy. Pedro definitely missed home and his owner, she said.
“He was so tired when he got home,” Wallace said. “All he’s been doing is eating and sleeping, and if he wakes up and I’m not next to the cage, he squawks for me. … I’m ecstatic to have him back. I’m just so thankful to everyone that helped bring him home.”
