Parrot Saved From Flood

I am so glad this poor bird was rescued. He must have been so scared.
This flooding was in northern Indiana recently.


Woman Reunited With Pet Parrot Nearly Killed In Flood
Woman Couldn't Take Parrot With Her

POSTED: 4:43 pm EST January 12, 2008


MONTICELLO, Ind. -- A woman whose home was swamped by Tuesday's flooding says she's thankful that neighbors saved her parrot, which nearly drowned after rescuers refused to let her bring the bird onto their boat.

Claudia Shown's 6-month-old African grey parrot, Mo Jo, was eventually rescued Tuesday by two neighbors who found the bird trembling in its cage, half of which was under water.

"If they hadn't got him, he would have drowned," Shown said Friday.

She was preparing to leave her home Tuesday morning after Lake Freeman began flooding following torrential rains. She had readied Mo Jo as well, putting him in a small traveling cage, but when a rescue boat arrived, a rescuer wouldn't let Shown take the bird with her.

"The rescue worker made me put him back in his big cage," she said.

Shown, who had just lost her 13-year-old pet miniature pinscher a day earlier to a stroke, found that hard to swallow. But she boarded the board anyway to be taken to safety from the floodwater that badly damaged her home about 20 miles north of Lafayette.

Rescue workers took her to shore, then to an emergency shelter where Shown waited for her son. When he arrived, he suggested they go back to her house to get Mo Jo.

But they couldn't reach it because there was too much water. Shown's neighbor then contacted another neighbor, who had two brothers on their way down with a fishing boat.

Arthur Bogash of Crown Point and Richard Bogash of Gary share a nearby camper that they visit in the summer. When they arrived, they agreed to get Mo Jo.

"The water was about half way up his cage," Arthur Bogash said. "He was sitting on his perch, shaking."

The brothers put Mo Jo's 5-foot-tall cage in their boat and brought him to shore.

Since Tuesday, Shown and Mo Jo have been staying at a Monticello hotel, recuperating from their ordeal.

"He'd been traumatized," Shown said, adding that the parrot is still a bit shaky.


Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I love birds, parotts, and this poor thing must be stressed so badly.? I have had many kinds of parotts, now just a Budgie.

I always sprayed mine daily with one tsp of listerine in the bottle to kill odors and make the feathers shiny. They became so much work for me myself, so sold most to good homes.

I think it is amazing how they can bond to one person or a family and talk away. Hope the birds do ok now and recover.... :)