A PET parrot stolen in a burglary has been reunited with its owner after police recognized its trademark squawk “Hello Baby” as they carried out a bust.

    Eight-year-old green-winged macaw Charlie disappeared after being snatched in a raid during which the burglar fled on a pushbike with the bird perched on the handlebars.

    The parrot which is kept at its owner’s pet shop was missing for three weeks until officers searching a house in nearby Wythenshawe spotted Charlie on a perch and she began squawking her “Hello Baby” catchphrase at them.

    At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Melvyn Gill, 46, was jailed for six months after he admitted to last August’s burglary.

    He had been paid £20 (US$30.39) to steal a parrot “to order.” When she was returned, the bird that is worth an estimated £2,500 was missing all her tail feathers and was said to be “stressed.”

    After the case, Charlie’s owner Graham Ralston, 46, who runs a pet shop in Timperley, Greater Manchester, said, “When Charlie went missing I was devastated. It was as though this burglar had taken a family member.

    “It was an awful attack and Charlie was clearly targeted. She would have been so scared and the state of the place shows she put up a fight. Her feathers were all over the floor, including her tail feathers which the man would have been pulling at to grab her.

    “When she came it is so good to have her back. She came straight out of the cage and we had a hug and a kiss.

    “She was bouncing around and saying ‘Hello Baby.’”

    Gill broke in at 3 a.m. by smashing a window. He then picked up a reptile tank and used it to break into the parrot’s aviary, before carrying the bird under his arm and fleeing from the store.

    Concerned passers-by contacted police when they saw Melvin cycling with the parrot on the handlebars of his push bike.

    Gill was also ordered to pay £985 in costs and victim surcharges.

    Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told him, “To you it may be that this particular bird meant nothing, but to the owner it is a part of his family. It is a nasty offense from that point of view. Some harm was caused to bird, and of course the owner was deprived of the company of his bird for a period of time.”(SD-Agencies)