‘Lucky’ bird: Pennsylvania cockatiel, lost for 3 years, found perched at a church

It is the uncommon pet fowl that is discovered protected and sound after it has been residing by itself for just a few years — however this can be a story with just a few surprises and a (largely) completely happy ending.

A cockatiel owned by a household in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, escaped from its dwelling about three years in the past and had been lacking ever since.

The employees acquired a “reward” and it was sitting on the church porch. 

Just lately, a girl working at a church in Lancaster County found a cockatiel perched on her church’s property. 

“I noticed that it was a fowl. And this fowl didn’t transfer or fly away,” Louise Duncan, a secretary at Christ United Methodist Church in Lancaster, advised Fox Information Digital about her discovery.

“He simply kind of stared at me together with his form of huge fowl eyes. I noticed that the plume was yellow and that he had orange cheeks. And I assumed, This has received to be a pet.” 

Duncan phoned ORCA — the Group for Accountable Care of Animals — an animal rescue group with a location close by, to request assist. 

She additionally took an image of the fowl together with her cellphone — and advised her pastor, Roseann Goldberg-Taylor of Christ United Methodist Church, that they acquired a “reward” and it was sitting on the church porch. 

The fowl — clearly used to being free — turned frantic, popped open the field and escaped.

Pastor Goldberg-Taylor corralled the fowl right into a field and put a lid on it. 

However the fowl — clearly used to being free — turned frantic, popped open the field and escaped, they stated. 

When an ORCA rescue employee arrived on the church to assist out, the employee was capable of get the fowl right into a protected container. ORCA took the fowl again to its location to see about reuniting it with its house owners. 

“We name it a blessing,” Pastor Goldberg-Taylor stated of the expertise. “We assist all God’s creatures at United Methodist Church.”

She added, “Anyone is welcomed at our church, even a cockatiel.”

To substantiate the fowl’s identification, the household advised the fowl hear the theme track from the ’60s TV present, “The Andy Griffith Present” — the fowl had at all times beloved that tune.

As soon as ORCA put an image of the fowl on Fb, a response quickly got here in from a household in Ephrata, some 15 miles away from the church.

They stated their beloved cockatiel, Fortunate, had escaped from their dwelling three years in the past — and that this fowl could be theirs. They despatched footage of Fortunate to Orca. 

To substantiate the fowl’s identification, the household advised the fowl hear the theme track from the Sixties tv present, “The Andy Griffith Present” — the fowl had beloved that tune. 

Positive sufficient, when the cockatiel heard the tune, it started dancing and whistling.

So this was Fortunate — a fowl that beloved to bop and whistle.

And by some means, ever because it had gone lacking, it had survived — on a wing and a prayer. 

“To know Fortunate’s household actually cared [about him] was nice to listen to,” ORCA rescue employee Libby Rannels advised Fox Information Digital. 

“And on high of that, it was fairly unbelievable he made it three years, wherever he was. We’re simply completely happy he’s protected.”

“He has been by way of quite a bit for the previous few years, and we actually simply wish to give him some stability and consistency. He can be very beloved right here with us.”

Fortunate’s authentic household can not take him again right now. Fox Information Digital reached out to the household for remark.

As ORCA’s workers wrote on its Fb web page, “Generally the tales don’t finish EXACTLY how we hoped, however we nonetheless imagine it’s a contented ending.” 

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They added, “Fortunate’s household finally determined that they have been unable to maintain him, and we now have him in our workplace once more. We’re grateful they care about him a lot that they made this very troublesome choice.”

“Our ORCA workers has determined that we’re going to hold Fortunate as our workplace pet. He has been by way of quite a bit for the previous few years, and we actually simply wish to give him some stability and consistency,” the group additionally wrote. “He can be very beloved right here with us.”

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Louise Duncan of Christ United Methodist Church discovered the expertise to be a teachable second, she stated.

“I’ve at all times been one to wish to discover a good ending to one thing troublesome for one thing or someone, like a pet or an individual. And [this experience] reinforces the necessity to by no means cease doing that,” she stated.