Joy as stolen cocky Jacko returned
A MUCH-LOVED Drysdale cockatoo stolen from a hardware store has been safely returned.
A woman dropped Jacko back to Drysdale Home Timber and Hardware in a box under mysterious circumstances on Monday afternoon. The person who returned the bird was not thought to be the same person who took him. The thief was captured on CCTV on Saturday night.
Jacko, 23, broke his beak as a baby and needs special care.
A MUCH-LOVED Drysdale cockatoo stolen from a hardware store has been safely returned.
A woman dropped Jacko back to Drysdale Home Timber and Hardware in a box under mysterious circumstances on Monday afternoon.
But the person who returned the bird was not thought to be the same person who took him.
The thief was captured on CCTV on Saturday night.
“It just means the world to us, how the community rallied around us,” emotional nursery manager Katrina Neocli said.
Ms Neocli, who arrived at the store on Sunday to find Jacko’s cage broken into, said she was overjoyed and relieved by the cockatoo’s return.
She said 23-year-old Jacko, who broke his beak as a baby, seemed OK and would be checked by a vet.
Jacko requires special care to trim his beak and has been at the store for 13 years.
He often says “hello” or “hello Jacko” and has clipped wings.
Store manger Ben Garvey said an anonymous woman, who claimed to have received Jacko from the person who took him, had dropped the bird off.
“He’s been on an adventure, God knows where that’s been,” Mr Garvey said.
“He seems OK, he was doing a little dance.”
Mr Garvey, who had pleaded to have Jacko returned with no questions asked, said “ecstatic” staff were “so very grateful”.
Police said Jacko had been outside the Murradoc Rd store when an offender forced open his cage and stole him about 8.45pm on Saturday.
It is believed the person who took Jacko jumped a fence to access his cage.