Popular parrot purloined from perch at pet shop
Bill Cleverley
Times Colonist
Friday, November 16, 2007
A Senegal parrot perches on the hand of an employee at Specht's pet shop in Victoria. A similar bird was stolen from its cage at Safari Pets and Aquatics while staff members were dealing with a rush of customers.
CREDIT: John McKay, Times Colonist
A Senegal parrot perches on the hand of an employee at Specht's pet shop in Victoria. A similar bird was stolen from its cage at Safari Pets and Aquatics while staff members were dealing with a rush of customers.
A parrot used to riding on the shoulders of pet-store employees has been bird-napped from a Greater Victoria pet store, leaving the owner worried about its safety.
The three-month old Senegal parrot, valued at about $800, was stolen Sunday afternoon from Safari Pets and Aquatics on Cloverdale Avenue at Blanshard Street in the Island Home Centre mall.
"It was in a cage right beside the cash register," shop owner Ted Vermeulen said.
"They had a big run of people coming through, so they put the bird back in the cage and they didn't put a lock on it. By the time the rush was over, they went to get the bird out and there it was ... gone."
The yellow grey and orange bird, which stands about 30 centimetres high, was a favourite around the store, Vermeulen said.
"The staff would have it on their shoulders all day, so if a little kid comes in he can hold a parrot, something he never gets a chance to do."
The hand-tamed bird was extremely friendly and would have jumped at a chance to head out on an adventure, he said.
"They're hatched and they're taken away from their parents when they are about two weeks old. They are raised on somebody's kitchen table. They're hand fed. They mix up a mixture and feed them with a syringe and a spoon in their mouth. These birds imprint on people. They think they're going to grow up and look like us."
The parrot needs the correct food and a proper sized cage, Vermeulen said.
"What we're always worried about is if somebody puts it in too small a cage or they've got an old cage. With birds, it's the same issue you've got with kids. There's lead paint on the old cages. So we're pretty particular when a bird like that goes out the door that the client is well-versed in how to care and feed for it."
The parrot is banded for identification, and that, too, presents a worry, he said. If the band isn't removed with the right tool, the bird's leg can end up broken.
The store would be happy to get the bird back, no questions asked. In the meantime, the free and easy interaction customers and pets have enjoyed has been curtailed, Vermeulen said.
"It was one of those frustrating, frustrating things that happens. We're an independent [store], so it's tough ... right around Christmas it just makes you lose your faith a little bit."
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007