14 DAY TRIAL // A funny but costly incident involving a pet cockatiel occurred last Sunday in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
The bird flew away from her owner's house on Thursday when a door blew open due to a blast of wind. Pensioner Madge Morris desperately tried to find her beloved pet and spent four days searching the streets for her cockatiel, called Georgie.
The Lutino cockatiel was finally located by a friend of Madge’s, who saw it in Northwood Park near her home in Stoke-on-Trent. However, Georgie was not willing to come down from the trees. That's when Ms. Morris called the RSPCA.
At least 10 firefighters and two fire engines were dispatched, a police community support officer and an RSPCA inspector were also called at the scene, and a road was closed in a rescue operation that lasted seven hours and cost the taxpayer no less than £4,000 ($6,690 /€4,870).
The RSPCA inspector was the one who called Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, but the first truck wasn't good enough for this “complicated” operation because it didn't have long enough ladders to reach the 40ft (12.19m) trees.
However, the firemen didn't manage to persuade Georgie to come down from its hiding place and eventually the money proved to be just an expensive waste. The bird only came down from the treetops after recognizing the colorful dressing gown of its owner.
“I’d tried everything else to get her attention but suddenly I remembered how much she loves to snuggle in my robe so when she refused to come down, I asked my friend to bring it to the park.
“Everyone must have thought I was a mad woman by the way I was running around the park in my pink bath robe. Georgie loves to snuggle in my robe,” the 80-year-old woman said, as reported by the Mirror.
Madge, who has four grown-up children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, has a deep affection for her pet and celebrated Georgie's eighth birthday on Tuesday. She has thanked the crews after being reunited with the flyaway cockatiel.
“She means a lot to me having had her for eight years and it was so traumatic not knowing if I would ever get her back,” the woman said.
More than 100 passers-by watched as emergency crews eventually captured little Georgie with a net.
According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, an average fire service intervention costs the taxpayer £2,000 ($3,340/€2,430) per vehicle.