- Robert Mortimer was reunited with his stolen parrot Barney after nearly a decade
- Barney was stolen from Mortimer’s home in Bradford, England, in 2017
- The parrot was found wandering in an IKEA parking lot 20 miles away
Robert Mortimer, a man in the United Kingdom, was reunited with his beloved pet parrot nearly a decade after the bird was stolen, thanks to a chance encounter miles away from home, People magazine reported.
The owner was left heartbroken when his pet parrot, named Barney, was taken from his home nine years ago, in 2017, from his home in the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England.
At that time, all the efforts to search for the bird went in vain. And as the years passed, the chances of ever finding the pet seemed almost non-existent.
But recently, the 56-year-old finally received a phone call from a local police officer, who told him that Barney had been found alive.
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"She called me up and said, 'Your parrot's been found,' " Mortimer said as quoted by the Daily Mail.
"I told her, 'He can't have been' - it was nearly ten years ago," he said, further adding, "I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I gave him up for dead a long time ago."
The incredible breakthrough came when the parrot was spotted wandering in an IKEA parking lot located about 20 miles from where it was originally stolen.
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The animal rescuer scanned Barney's microchip, which revealed its name. However, they couldn't locate the owner as the phone number attached to the chip was no longer active.
"Lots of people got in touch claiming he was their parrot, but no one had any proof," as quoted, Gemma Dumbill, owner of Hillary Harry and Friends Wildlife Rescue, said while speaking to the Daily Mail. "All we knew from the chip was that he was called Barney and was originally from Bradford."
Dumbill was surprised when she addressed him by name. "I said to him, 'Hi, Barney,' and he looked at me as if to say, 'How did you know my name?' "
After that, she did an internet search, and the bird was eventually reunited with its owner, and as per the report, it's settling into its owner's new house.
