A town came together to search for a woman’s beloved pet parrot – but then tragedy struck just as the bird was flying back towards its owner.
Scancy Aiken rallied members of her neighborhood in St Paul, Minnesota on social media and while searching in person for the lost parrot, Nerys, after it escaped from her home.
Nerys was a female 15-year-old nanday conure, a bright green parrot native to South America. Her owner named the little bird after a character from the television show Star Trek.
Aiken described Nerys as ‘sweet and outgoing’ to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
‘She liked hanging out on my shoulder while we did the dishes,’ she said.
On the morning of September 2, Nerys flew out of the family’s home after one of Aiken’s sons left the door open.
The parrot got stuck in a nearby tree and stayed there overnight. A frantic Aiken posted to Facebook pleading for help from others in the Hamline neighborhood where she lives.
Nerys, named after a Star Trek character, escaped from her owner’s home on September 2
Members of the St. Paul community aided Aiken’s search for Nerys after the owner’s various calls for help on social media
‘I can see her, I can hear her. I just can’t get to her,’ she wrote in the post. ‘I think she’s stuck. She keeps squacking like she wants to be picked up. It’s chilly, and windy. She’s been up there all night.’
She asked if anyone with a tall ladder could help, or even someone really good at climbing trees.
Soon enough, a man showed up with tree climbing gear. Aiken said he mainly spoke spanish and that she only got his first name, Jamie. She described Jamie as ‘really nice,’ and said she assumed he worked as a tree trimmer.
The two were able to get Nerys to fly out of the tree, but the little green parrot flew away towards a park. Aiken got on her bike to try and track the bird down.
She couldn’t find Nerys at first, so she asked some people who were in the alley next to a nearby gas station if they had seen the bird. They had not, but they agreed to help Aiken with her search.
‘They’re like the alley way people. They aren’t necessarily the height of society. But they definitely helped that day,’ Aiken said.
‘People are willing to come together to help an innocent bird.’
Nerys was then spotted in a tree in front of Jehovah Lutheran Church, which is across the street from the park the bird flew towards.
The church offered its ladder to help, but it wasn’t tall enough. A neighbor climbed the tree and wedged Nerys’s pet carrier with some bird food in it between the branches in hope that the parrot would go in voluntarily.
‘HELP needed ASAP!’, Aiken posted to Instagram as the bird stayed in the tree. ‘Someone with a really tall ladder on Thomas in front of Jehova Lutheran! Nerys has been FOUND!
‘A neighbor climbed the tree and she wouldn’t come to him but he put her carrier up there with food in it so maybe she’ll go in there? Help!’
Another person showed up and climbed about 20 feet up the tree before spending 15 minutes trying to get the bird down with a clothesline.
Nerys then suddenly fell from the tree and hit the pavement. Aiken tried to grab her, but the parrot took off and was hit by a car.
A distraught Aiken then ran out to the street to scoop up her bird as she sobbed. The man who climbed the tree thought Nerys might have just been stunned and took her pulse, but the little parrot had died.
‘She was really weak and scared and couldn’t fly very far,’ Aiken said. ‘She was dead when I got to her.’
Aiken regularly posted cute pictures with her beloved parrot on social media
The grieving owner took Nerys home and wrapped her in a towel that read, ‘Te amo mi corazon es tuyo,’ wich translates to, «I love you, my heart is yours.’
A pastor from Jehova Lutheran Church, the church that Nerys died in front of, came by Aiken’s home to read some bible verses the next day. The little green parrot was burried in the family’s yard.
Aiken said the mini funeral brought her peace and closure and that it was ‘very meaningful.’
The story had a sad ending, but Aiken said it was ‘really cool’ that her community came together to help her.
