OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (KFOR/CNN) - Valerie Kelley has spent days camping around town.
“In a chair, somewhere, since Monday,” Kelley said on Sunday. “I go home at 9 o’clock at night and come back at 6:30 every morning.”
Her blue golden macaw, Max, got out of his cage while Kelley was cleaning it. He flew from house to house, tree to tree, over a mile from home.
“We had had those big wind gusts last night. It blew him out of the tree and he landed on this roof,” Kelley said.
She said she had tried everything, including bringing her other bird to help call Max down. She has even resorted to french fries. She said she and her friends have made calls and put up social media posts.
When animal welfare said they couldn’t help, a call was made to the Oklahoma City Fire Department. An operator there said, “It may be a few minutes. It’s not going to be like an emergency response, but they’ll probably be there within 10 to 15 minutes.”
And sure enough, the crew arrived, with firefighters on the roof in a balancing act.
“Yeah, it’s OK. He won’t bite your finger off,” Kelley called out to firefighters.
Now, Max, though a little grumpy, is in good hands, and Kelley is on cloud nine.
“Oh, I am just elated,” she said.
As for the crew that got him down, it’s a job they were happy to do.
“I was just trying to say, ‘Max, step up,’” said firefighter Tyler Durham. “Trying to get him to climb on my hand so I can grab him.”
Durham said his biggest fear was getting bitten.
Max is the third wild bird to escape from its owner in the Oklahoma City area since February.
Copyright 2017 KFOR via CNN. All rights reserved.
