Parrot 'sings’ on burglars

Press, 23 January 1984, Page 8

Parrot 'sings’ on burglars

NZPA-AP Baytown, Texas An exotic talking bird with a good memory scared burglars out of a house and then helped the police find the suspects by remembering their names. A Baytown police detective, Reggie Harper, said that the bird had helped confirm the identification of men charged with house burglaries covering the loss

of SUSSO,OOO ($NZ277,000) in property. Two men and a juvenile had been arrested and others were being sought. Detective Harper said that during the investigation a homeowner had reported that her exotic South American talking bird kept saying, “Come here, Robert. Come here, Ronnie.” “When the lady told me about it I almost broke up,”

he said. “I almost didn’t write it down.”

The bird apparently had picked up the names when intruders in the house talked to each other. Robert Davis, aged 18, was charged with burglary and held on SUSSO,OOO bond. Also charged were John Wilbanks, aged 19, and a 16 year old. Detective Harper said that informants had told the

police that the bird, speaking in the darkness during the burglary of what was presumed an empty house, had scared the intruders away, but not before they had called to each other enough for the bird to learn their names.

The police said that fingerprints and information from informants also had helped in the identification.