Coppertiel Reports For Duty

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 27, 2008

Carmel Egan

BREAKFAST in custody at the Preston police station does not usually stretch to hot jam doughnuts and toasted muesli, but Constable Greg Rodgers had to improvise yesterday.

With no silver beet or sunflower seeds to hand, officers scrambled for alternatives when a local resident delivered an unexpected customer to the front counter.

A young cockatiel had accosted Martha Simpson as she walked beneath the lemon-scented gums at the nearby Preston library around 11.10am. With the bird set stubbornly on her shoulder, Ms Simpson proceeded in a westerly direction the few short steps to Preston police and handed over the culprit.

There, between sugary snacks and naps in the first aid storeroom, the affectionate white and grey cockatiel canoodled up to Constable Rodgers.

"He is a very friendly little chap, so I think he is definitely someone's pet," said Constable Rodgers.

"We are hoping a local petshop can lend us a cage until his owner claims him." But matching lost cockatiels with their owners is a long shot, according to Narre Warren breeder Jim Crichton.

"They are very loving and friendly, but if they get out of their aviaries they just get lost and they won't find their way home again," he said.

"They can fly for five, 10, 15 kilometres round and round, and then land out of exhaustion."

Mr Crichton volunteered to take the bird if the owner did not come forward, but Ms Simpson already has first dibbs if the lost property is not claimed in three months.

Meanwhile, it's a bird in hand for Constable Rodgers.

© 2008 The Sunday Age

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