Dubai: A Dh10,000 cash reward has been set for anyone who can find five parrots gone missing since April 27 from a Mirdiff villa in Dubai.
South African pet owner Yolande Koen-Bennett is distraught after five of her parrots were stolen in the early hours of April 27 from the garden area of her villa. It was the day before she was going to build a 6x3 metre aviary to house the talking birds in the garden.
“I am horrified as to why someone would do this,” she said. “My friends and I have set a cash reward of Dh10,000 for anyone who can find us the birds and the thief.”
The missing birds
Among the parrots missing is a male Galah Cockatoo named Tequila, another male of the same breed called Savannah, a yellow-headed Amazon male called Zulu, an African Grey male called Coco and Charlie, an eight year old Umbrella Cockatoo.
Former owner, Lisa Hancocks, originally from the UK, is equally upset that the birds have gone missing.
“I had adopted Charlie when he was born in 2012,” she said. “He was with me until 2019. My work life keeps me busy and considering Charlie is such an engaging bird and a very talkative one at that, I gave him up for adoption. I found the perfect person in Yolande who loves animals and birds. Plus she had other parrots she had adopted and I thought Charlie would have a great company with the others,” she said.
“Only someone terrible would do something like this,” she added.
How they could have been stolen
Yolande reckons the birds were taken away from their cage in the early hours of the morning. “The cage is intact. So the thief probably took the birds after pulling the underneath tray of the cage. We are making a frantic search to locate the birds.”
She and her friends have splashed posters of the parrots across social media platforms and distributed flyers in the Mirdiff neighbourhood. Yolande and her friends have made visits to Warsan animal centre. A complaint has been registered with Dubai Municipality to locate the birds.
“We made a lifelong commitment to these parrots. They were supposed to be passed on to our children, as parrots usually outlive us humans. I just want my babies back home,” said an Yolande.
Yolande and Hancox have registered complaints with both Dubai Police and Dubai Municipality regarding the alleged theft and Gulf News has seen the case numbers.
Those who spot the birds can email Yolande on yolandeswanepoel@yahoo.com or Lisa on lisahancox78@yahoo.co.uk.
