The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Family offers reward to find missing parrot
AFife family a repining for the return of their pet parrot after it took flight from their home on Hog ma nay.
Mum-of-two Laura Murray has made a desperate plea for any sightings of the five-yearold orange and green-coloured male lovebird called Scooter, which escaped through an unlocked window at her home on Cochrane Avenue, Inverkeithing.
Despite a number of reported sightings and attempts to capture the errant pet, the exotic bird is still at large and concerns are now growing for its welfare as temperatures plummet.
Having scoured the area, Laura said hopes are now fading of reuniting Scooter with its female partner, Chip, which remains at home all alone.
“We are all devastated as we’ve had him for five years and he’s treated as one of the family,” said Laura.
“I’d split the birds up as they were pecking at each other and put Scooter in a spare room.“But when I came back to check on him he’d escaped through an unlocked window that must have blown open.
“My nine-year-old daughter, Grace, is very upset as he’s been around since she was small.
“I’m worried sick as I’m not sure he’ll survive the freezing temperatures. Scooter has always lived indoors and is used to me having the heating on all the time.”
Laura said the family came close to recapturing the bird after it returned to sit on the open cage left in the garden.
They have left food out and even played recordings of lovebirds in a bid to attract it back but, so far, all attempts have failed.
“I’ve posted appeals on social media and we’ve had a couple of people in Inverkeithing report sightings in the first couple of days, but nothing since,” said Laura.
“We just want news of his whereabouts and are offering a £50 reward for information that will help find him.”
Social and affectionate creatures, lovebird is the common name for the Agapornis collection within the parrot family which mostly originate from the African continent.
The lovebird name derives from the bird’s monogamous pair bonding and the long periods which paired birds spend sitting together.
In the wild they survive on fruit, vegetables, grasses and seeds.
Anyone who thinks they may have seen the bird, which will be easily recognised by its bright orange and green plumage, is urged to message Laura via her Facebook page.
I’m not sure he’ll survive the freezing temperatures