Parrot missing for two days in Birmingham rescued after being lured down with a bag of Wotsits

A pet parrot which went missing for two days was eventually rescued from a 60ft (18m) tree after being lured down with a bag of Wotsits.

Mango the macaw flew out of a window at the care home where she lives after being spooked by a thunder storm at around 2pm on Sunday (July 9) afternoon. Owner Karen Godwin, 52, went searching the local area in Great Barr, Birmingham, but was left devastated when the missing bird failed to respond to her calls.

But on Tuesday morning (July 11) Mango was spotted two roads away up a huge pine tree after the family heard her squawking “Hello”.

Fire crews and roofers failed to reach the stricken bird because their ladders weren’t long enough and bin men even stopped to try and help by using their lunch as bait.

Karen decided to put out an appeal on social media before tree surgeon Nathan McKane offered to help and arrived within the hour. He used ropes to clamber up the tree before enticing the peckish parrot towards him using a packet of the cheesy snacks from one of the bin men’s lunchboxes.

But Mango refused to budge and was calling out “say please” as Nathan tried to lure her using her favourite treat.

After eventually taking the bait, he managed to grab the colourful bird before sliding back down the tree to reunite Mango with her delighted owner after 46 hours.

Karen, who runs The Willows care home with her husband Stephen, 52, said: “I’ve always been an animal-lover and Mango is sort of my bird - she is very sociable with everyone though and is just lovely. All my clients and staff love her so when my son called to say she had gone missing on Sunday during a storm we were devastated.

“We sat out until 9pm that night, I didn’t sleep a wink and got up at 4am to go out again calling for her. We drove around the local area putting up posters. Two days passed and I pretty much had a meltdown and was in tears because I gave up hope of seeing her again.

“We’d had all this rain and knew she would be wet and cold, I wasn’t sure she’d know how to feed in the wild too so we expected the worst. I had called the fire station in West Bromwich who advised me to call 999 but they wouldn’t send anybody in case firefighters fell off a ladder, weirdly enough.

“But on Tuesday fire crews did agree to come out when somebody said she heard Mango calling from a tree on the street behind our house. I said ‘no that’s just a blackbird’ but then all of a sudden as clear as day you could hear her calling out ‘Hello’.

“I was still in my pyjamas and dashed around to the roads behind us and there she was sat 60ft up in the air in a birch tree. She started getting very animated saying all the words she knows - like’ hello’, ‘Mango’, ‘feed me’ and a bit rudely calling out t**t.

“When fire crews came out they said their ladders weren’t long enough and to call in a tree surgeon. We put an appeal out for help and lots of people volunteered but said they couldn’t get out to us until the following day.

“By complete coincidence a tree surgeon who lives on the next road along was finishing up a job and he came within the hour. We even had binmen stop to try and help. It was the funniest thing, they all jumped out with their lunchboxes and were trying to lure her down with grapes.

“One of the binmen had a pack of Wotsits and I knew she was partial to those. You could see her getting excited when they were opened. You could hear her saying ‘say please’ when they opened the Wotsits as I always ask ‘where’s your manners?’ when she wants a treat.

“But she still wasn’t brave enough to come down, she’s a proper little princess so wanted us to go up to her. So Nathan slung his ropes over his shoulders and clambered up with this bag of Wotsits in his pocket.

“I told him to call her name and say ‘who’s a pretty girl’ to befriend her but she wouldn’t budge and was still calling out ‘say please’. He reached the top and you could see her edge away from him and going even higher.

“Then he used a Wotsit and started to feed her. While she was eating it and moving forward, he quickly grabbed her. He was amazing, he grabbed her one-handed and slung her under his arm - putting his t-shirt in her mouth to stop her pecking at him.

“He then swung down the rope one-handed and I was just so happy to have my bird back. Nathan was just brilliant and I can’t thank him enough. It was a real community effort. The local support was incredible and really restored my faith in humanity.

“People from as far away as Devon and Cornwall were all offering assistance and advice, it was quite overwhelming. When we walked in the door at the home with Mango it was such a lovely surprise for all the staff and clients - it was such a beautiful ending.”

Tree surgeon Nathan, who runs McKane Maintenance, said he kept getting alerts when people tagged him in the Facebook appeal.

Using his specialist gear and equipment, he finished up the job he was doing and was at the scene on Danford Way within 50 minutes.

He said: “My phone was going mad with people tagging me in the Facebook appeal and I live on pretty much the next street along.

“I made the job I was currently doing safe and swung around there and up the tree with my ropes. It was only two streets away from me - I could see the tree from my house so I knew exactly which one it was.

“I was told it was quite friendly but when I got up there it didn’t seem to want to come down nicely at all. I managed to grab the back of its feathers and put it up against my t-shirt but I’ve been pecked to death. I’ve had to superglue my finger back together but I was happy to help.”