Community helps reunite family with beloved cockatiel
"There was a huge operation happening behind me all the while I was in tears and trying to figure out a way to get to Owen," said Noleen Hanson
A WATERFALL family was recently reunited with their lost cockatiel, Owen who was found after the community responded to a post on social media.
On Monday, 15 January Noleen and her family realised Owen had somehow escaped from his cage.
“I immediately put a broadcast out on the Upper Highway Info Facebook page and the community WhatsApp group to keep a look out for him as he is very talkative and tame. Jade, my daughter had raised him from an hatchling and is he is only 4 years old,” she said.
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Noleen had little hope of seeing him again as the family lives near a gorge with lots of hawks and yellow-billed kites.
The weather was also very bad on that Monday evening with heavy rain and wind.
“We couldn’t sleep thinking about our poor pampered bird in the dark, alone and wet and probably very hungry. By Thursday we had given up hope having heard nothing all week. On Friday morning, somebody tagged me on Facebook in a post about somebody seeing and hearing a cockatiel in the Camelot area of Hillcrest,” said Noleen.
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“I looked at the picture and immediately recognised Owen. I was ecstatic and got hold of the person Jamie Rae who posted it and raced over there with granny, his friend Sam in his cage to try and coax him and his own cage,” she said.
When they arrived, he immediately recognised his family and his friends call and responded to them, but continued flying around high up in the trees.
“We tried for over an hour to get him down and eventually a very kind couple, Paddy and Graham from one of the units offered to keep Owen’s cage and Sam in her garden to try to get him to come. We had no luck and on Saturday morning I phoned Paddy to make arrangements to collect the cage. We were so despondent but at the same time over the moon that he was still alive. Just as we were about to leave, I got tagged on Facebook once again to say that a cockatiel had been spotted at the Spur in Watercrest Mall,” she explained.
They grabbed Sam, some nets and dashed over there. Noleen said she ran like a mad woman as she was directed to the John Dory’s side where she found Owen. But her heart shattered when she realised they could not get to him as he was four stories up and all the windows were sealed.
“Chantal (who made the notification on FB) arranged for security and they tried to assist, people were wanting to break the windows – I heard someone mention a crane – there was a huge operation happening behind me all the while I was in tears, trying to figure out a way to get to Owen. He was exhausted and biting at the window and seal to try and reach my finger. Eventually we thought the best would be to chase him off the ledge all the time to make him more exhausted and fly down the bottom where my husband was waiting with a net and Sam. This didn’t work, as he kept coming back to the ledge,” she explained.
“Some children came along with so much vigour and enthusiasm to help. They chased him to the right place on the ledge and I went across to Panarotti’s where together with the Manager Frans, we held up Sam in his cage and I called him with all my might. He saw us! He then flew across to my finger and I grabbed him and put in the cage where he started eating immediately. He was absolutely famished! I broke down into tears and hugged and kissed everyone,”
“Amy and her friends (the kids from Spur) ran across to me and we hugged each other and cried – all the staff from Panarotti’s and Spur were there and it was a huge celebration. We as a family still can’t believe we have Owen home – it is truly a miracle but it would not have happened without the power of Facebook and a community rallying around to get him home,” said a relieved and thankful Noleen.
Owen’s family is grateful to everyone who helped find him.
“Thank you goes to so many people, from the people that posted, shared and tagged me on Facebook, to Paddy and Graham at Camelot, to all the patrons and staff at John Dory’s, Spur and Panarotti’s Watercrest and a very big thank you to the security at Watercrest Mall. They really went out of their call of duty to help,” she said.
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