It was the reunion that Tracy McLaughlan never expected to have.
When her beloved pet, Relly the long-billed Corella was stolen from her Sutherland Shire home more than three-and-a-half years ago she pursued every avenue to try and get him back.
Through social media, animal rescue centres and vets, Tracy responded to more than 200 callouts from rescues Corellas.
But none were her bird.
“My hopes were raised every time I received a tip-off about a Corella at a rescue centre and so let down when I arrived to find it was not Relly. It was just horrible,” Tracy said.
“Relly has a special way of crawling up my leg and getting on my arm and no other bird did that,” she said.
“He would bite the kids, but never me. He was my bird.
“Every time I got my hopes up only to be disappointed it got so upsetting that I asked WIRES to stop calling me.”
But they kept calling and two weeks ago, after more than three years missing, Tracy and Relly were reunited.
Tracy received a call from Evelyn at Parrot Alert to say there was a Corella which had been handed in to the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home at Carlton.
It had come in from Mortdale Greencross Vets after being found by a Georges River Council ranger.
Unsure if she could handle anymore heartache, Tracy thought twice about visiting Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.
She arrived preparing herself for disappointment. But when the Corella crawled up onto Tracy in that all-too-familiar manner, it was no mistaking that it was her treasured Relly.
“He knew me straight away,” Tracy said. “I just knew it was my bird. The markings, his habits. He crawled up my side and sat on my shoulder.
“When I got him home he flew straight back to his usual spot. He bit the kids and I know it was him.
“He has a trick when he throws a peg in the air, catches it and says hello.
“There’s just too many things for it not to be my bird.”
Tracy originally got the bird from a Kirrawee vet five years before it was stolen.
He was a rescue bird which she agreed to look after it until the owner could be found.
“We had no idea how old he was. They can live to be 80. He was a bit underweight and had lost some feathers so was obviously distressed.
“He was aggressive with my kids and bit them, but not with me.
“I was just looking after him until we found the owner. The bird started following me around. Every time I took the kids to school the bird hear the sound of the car keys in my hand and would crawl up my leg and sit on my shoulder.
“Soon I was taking him everywhere, on school runs, shopping, on holidays, camping.
“He’d go into a bank on my shoulder and say hello to everyone there.
“I did shows at school with him, telling kids how animal rescue is so important. I told them just because a rescue animal is aggressive doesn’t mean it can’t be saved. Animals could be loved.
“I loved this bird so much. When he was stolen I was devastated. Six months before he was stolen he escaped and I followed him for ten hours before I caught him and brought him home.
“Every now and then there’s an animal that comes along that you just bond with.”
Sydney’s Dogs and Cats Home receives more than 3300 lost and abandoned animals each year.
The home staff have reunited and rehomed 192 animals in the past month.
No time limits are placed on any animal awaiting adoption at the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.
The home relies on donations from the community to ensure an animal’s stay is as enjoyable as possible.
