I lost my Congo African-Grey parrot on Feb. 22, 2004, in Seattle, WA. Coincidentally, her name is Pepper. My wife and I were married in our forties and Pepper is our "child." Words fail us when we attempt to describe how much we love, miss, and fear for her. We found her perched on a tree limb thirty feet up the morning after she flew away. During our failed effort to rescue her, my wife fell from the tree breaking her back and both legs. Fortunately, she probably will recover fully, although she faces a long and difficult recovery. Twenty-five agonizing days have passed without anyone contacting us to report a sighting even though I have done everything that I can think of to let people know that she is missing. I suspect that someone has her and intends to keep her, without notifying anyone. I only want Pepper back and will not make trouble for the person who has her. I will put a smile on my face and also pay a reward, as long as I get her back. I have to say, however, that any person who finds a lost parrot and decides to keep it without attempting to find its owner, needs to take a long look at themselves. The anguish caused by Pepper's loss, my wife's injuries, the second guessing, worry, and the nightmare of imagining the terror she must feel as well as not knowing whether she is alive or dead has driven me nearly to the brink of insanity. When a person chooses to keep a lost pet without attempting to find its owner, they cause immeasurable pain and suffering to another human being who already suffers terribly. Choosing to be willfully ignorant of the pain they cause another because they like the "pretty bird," or want to collect a reward, or sell it is indefensible. So too, is their violation of the bird's relationship with its owner because the bird wants to go home but it does not know how to find its way home. They add to the bird's anguish. Maybe they can live with themselves, assuming that they have a conscience, by choosing to believe that the bird must have chosen to leave its owner so it must have been mistreated, so "finders-keepers." That happens sometimes, I suppose, but most bird-owners love and cherish their birds. Birds, however, have wings. Accidents do happen. When a bird flies away, it may travel many miles before it tries to figure out where home is. It can't because the terrain below is unfamiliar and many birds, including mine, have no homing instinct. Bottom Line: there is no justification for keeping a lost bird unless one expends every reasonable effort to find and contact its owner, including notifying veterinarians, pet hospitals, pet stores, PAWS, animal control, pet shelters, and parrot rescue services. One should also place ads in local papers, pass out fliers, and check for notices that may have been posted by the owner.
