A Wirral mum thought her daughter's cherished pet was 'going to die' when its cage was blown open by wind.
Zara Williams, from Upton, was more than relieved when she received a call two days after the parrot belonging to her daughter, Erin flew away from home. The call was from a family in the adjacent village of Greasby, informing her they had found the pet wounded by their garden shed.
The parrot, Precious, is particularly important to the family as it is a close friend and comfort animal to Erin, 10, who has autism. Precious was found looking 'like she had been shot out of the sky' by the Hanson family, who managed to nurse her back to good health and get in touch with Zara, 43, after appealing to Facebook.
READ MORE: Children 'made up' after dad's garden discovery
Zara said: "We put her outside on the decking in her cage on a nice day and the wind caught the cage and blew it over and the latch came undone. I saw her on top of the cage as she'd climbed out of the latch. I said 'step up', because when I usually say that she steps on my fingers, but the minute she stepped up she just flew, straight into the air, right over the house, and she went missing for 2 days and 2 nights.
"We've had her wings clipped so she can only fly a limited amount of something like 15 feet or something like that. But because of the avian flu going round the vets aren't taking birds in, so we haven't managed to get her wings clipped.
"When we woke up the next mornings it was two degrees, really really cold, and the minute I went outside I thought of her straight away and thought she was going to die. She wouldn't have survived another day if the family hadn't found her.
"I took them gifts just to say thank you. They didn't have to do what they did.
"My daughter has autism, she's ten and she speaks more to the parrot probably than us. She'll sit in the backroom and speak to the parrot and they really get along.
"I was more worried about her mental health as well because she was very very upset. The parrot recognises her voice and speaks to her. She's a very vocal parrot.
"It was a massive concern not just for the safety of the parrot but also for my daughters mental state because she was very upset, which we all were really.
"She more than a pet. I don't have the words but she's a family member. My daughter offloads to her because she knows she can trust the parrot.
"It looked like Precious had been shot out of the sky when we got to her, she was just lying on her back with her legs in the air. It took about three hours before she actually stood up.
"I picked my daughter up and she actually cried when she got home, because she thought we weren't going to get her back."
