A woman is thankful to two strangers who helped her find Marty, an African grey parrot, which flew away from her father’s North Kingstown home.
“He’s my baby,” Tara Harris, who lives in California but is visiting her father in Rhode Island, told NBC 10 News Wednesday afternoon.
“Last night at around 7 o’clock, he flew out of our backyard and across the street,” she added, noting that her father lives on Grant Drive off Old Baptist Road. “We chased after him, but he was completely gone. We’ve been looking all day.”
Harris offered a $10,000 reward for Marty’s safe return.
She feared the worse but eventually received the news she was hoping for.
“I got this phone call from this girl named Lauryn and she was like, ‘Me and my mom just saw him fly into a backyard,’” Harris said. “I was like, ‘What?!’”
Lauryn Hood, 16, a student at Exeter-West Greenwich High School, found Marty.
She said she asked her mother if they could help look for the parrot.
“After school, we went right to the neighborhood where she said the bird had gone missing and we drove around for 30 minutes, trying to find the bird,” Hood said. “We didn’t have any luck.”
They then drove closer to Harris’ home. That’s when Hood spotted Marty.
“I could see the red in the bird’s tail feathers,” she said. “Immediately, I told my mom.”
Hood’s mother, Wendy Miller, said she wasn’t surprised when Hood told her she wanted to help, saying, “She always goes out of her way to help other people.”
But Miller was shocked when Hood discovered the bird.
Miller contacted Harris, who rushed to the scene.
“She just walked over to it and picked it up,” Hood said. “It was so tired from being out all night. It was crazy. It was a surreal moment. We were all emotional.”
Miller shared similar sentiments.
“Everyone was crying because it was so cute,” Miller said. “The little thing waddled, and it was peeping, making this little noise. We were just grateful she got her baby back.”
Harris said she sprinted to the location. There, she saw Marty sitting under a car in a driveway.
“I scooped him right up,” she said. “He’s all wet and very hungry right now.”
Harris said she fed him all his favorite foods. They included kiwi, bananas, and dry pasta.
“Anything he wants,” Harris said with a laugh.
She’s also grateful for neighbors who took part in the search, thanking everyone who helped.
“I don’t even know what to do right now,” she said.
Marty’s wings are not clipped, and Harris said she typically straps a halter on him when she takes him outside. She keeps the leash wrapped around her wrist.
“But, yesterday, I just walked out on the back deck and I was like, ‘He’s not going to fly away from me.’ But he did,” she said.
Going forward, she said Marty won’t go out of the house again without his “flight suit.”
“It’s like a bungee leash, so he can still fly around but he’s attached to me,” she said.
Marty, who is 5 months old, is Harris’ first pet bird. Her grandmother had an African grey, which inspired her to get one of her own.
“They are very bonded to their owners and I love that,” Harris said. “We literally spend all day, every day together and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. That’s why I was so distressed.”
As for the reward money, Hood said she eventually plans to put it to good use. For now, she is keeping it in savings.
“I’m starting driving in November, so getting a new car would probably be an option,” she said.
So far, Hood said Harris sent her about half the money on Venmo. Harris plans to send the remainder on Thursday.
“Tomorrow, she’s giving me the rest of the money, which is insane,” Hood said. “It’s just surreal.”
Harris said Hood and Miller initially refused to take the money. But, she added, she insisted.
“I was pushing it on them,” Harris said. “They were like, ‘No, it’s OK,’ and I said, ‘You are not leaving without it. I owe you my life.’”