A family pet

A pet is like a family member.
When you lose one, you grieve, sometimes even more deeply than for a relative.

IMG_5144We have had a pet “conure” (small parrot) for the last 12 years and over time we have become very attached to it.

We always refused to have his wings clipped and we let him fly at will all over our condo.
He was very tame, very friendly and fond of human contact.
He always had to be close to a human being and when he felt cold, he didn’t hesitate to crawl under a sweater to get warm.

Today unfortunately, taking advantage of an open door, the bird flew out.
He initially perched on a tall tree nearby and despite of our desperate calls, Liosha (who usually doesn’t hesitate to land and cling to a stranger), Liosha refused to come down.

After three desperate hours, and feeling very embarrassed, we resolved to call the Marinwood Fire Department.
I was initially very doubtful that they would respond to such a call, but they did.
Within ten minutes there was a big yellow fire truck parked in front of our house.
Captain Joel White, Acting / Engineer Brandon Selvitella and Firefighter Ross Anderson were kind enough to respond to our distress call and attempt to rescue our pet.

They came in a driving rain and deployed a big ladder against a tree to reach the bird.
Unfortunately, Liosha got spooked and flew even higher in the tree.

I am sorry to say that so far, all attempts to coax Liosha back to us have failed.
Tamara is heartbroken and so am I.

This happened once before, and after spending the night outside, the bird probably cold and hungry was convinced to fly down and get captured.

We will try to get him again, but no matter what happens now, we feel very grateful to the Marinwood Fire Department that went beyond the call of duty to help bring back our pet.

Regardless of the outcome of this very painful situation, we feel good having people like Joel White, Brandon Selvitella and Ross Anderson around, and so should all the Marin County people.

A grateful citizen.

Alain

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