A heartbroken Cumbrian family have issued a £1,000 reward for the safe return of their beloved pet parrot.
Helen and Karl Langley, from Silloth, are the owners of Oz, an almost two-year-old turquoise-fronted Amazon who escaped home on Friday evening May 5 when their front door was accidentally pushed open by their dog Dorothy.
After the family shared a desperate appeal for help to find Oz on social media and put forward £500 of their own money as a reward – the local community in Silloth stepped in.
People from across the town have been printing off missing posters and donating to the reward fund, which has now been raised to £1,000.
Karl said: “We’re absolutely heartbroken but we’re also very hopeful, we just want him back. He’s a very good talker and he’s a massive fan of ABBA music and he’ll say the odd swear word when you try and put him back in his cage.
“We’re just trying everything we possibly can to find him. We’ve had people that we don’t even know putting up posters and searching for him and donating money
“It’s unbelievable what everyone is doing, we’ve only lived in Silloth for over a year at most and we’ve also had a local councillor Owen Martin using his drone to help us look.”
When Oz first went missing the family managed to track him to a wooded area called The Pines near Silloth Arcade.
Karl said he tried to climb the tree Oz was in with a harness to get him down, but unfortunately he spooked and flew away.
The last sighting of Oz was on Saturday and made by an elderly couple staying at Stanwix Park on holiday, with no new sightings reported since.
Karl added that in particular, Silloth resident Amy Whitehead has been going above and beyond to help the family and that his close friend Holly Garson, head bird keeper at Flamingo Land had also been supporting him and giving him advice on ways to find Oz.
He also credited his daughters Madison and Lucy Joe, who have been out looking for Oz as much as possible outside school hours.
Karl said: “We also had a little girl draw a picture of him for a missing poster and she went to the Spar and asked if his photo could be posted and it was beautiful, it was actually really heart warming.
“But even my little dog, she’s been sitting and looking at his cage on the front garden which we’ve still got out and she’s looking into his cage and crying.”
The family added that the most important thing the public can do to help is report a sighting to them immediately.
Helen added: “We’re missing him so much but we’re never going to lose hope, we’re just so worried about what he might be going through out there.
“The more people that share the posts about him and the more people who look will help us massively. He could be literally anywhere right now.
“It’s just been so nice to see people come together for us, most of them we don’t know or we’ve never even met. It feels like everyone really does care and I really feel like I’m part of Silloth now.”
Karl bought Oz just over a year ago from Tony Watson’s Pet Shop in Workington, who he has stayed in touch with to provide them with updates on Oz’s life.
Tracy Blair, who co-owns the shop, said Karl was the number one person to own a parrot and said he had put a huge amount of time and effort into taming him and making him into a very friendly bird.
She added that she believes eventually, Oz will come down and potentially land on someone in need of help once he becomes hungry and tired.
She said: “He will want help very soon, I said to Karl don’t give up hope. When he gets lower that’s when he will see a human and he might even try and land on them.
“Monkey nuts are a good thing for them to have and water might bring him down. People shouldn’t be frightened of picking him up and a cat carrier is an easy way of transporting them. For anyone really scared of picking him, using a towel won’t hurt him.”
Anyone who believes they may have seen Oz is urged to contact Helen on 07469804627 or Karl via Facebook messenger.
If you manage to catch Oz safely, you can also take him to Tony Watson’s Pet Shop in Workington.
