Precarious Parrot: Chicago Firefighters Rescue Stranded Pet Bird on Building's Ledge

Austin Cannon
·1 min read
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ames F. / 500px / Getty

Chicago firefighters were returning from a call in the city's downtown over the weekend when they were flagged down to rescue a stuck pet—one feathered rather than furry.

Yup, it was a parrot who was standing on a ledge outside a window on the second floor of a downtown building on Sunday. According to WLS, a person among the dozens in the street flagged down the passing fire truck to rescue the stranded pet bird at the intersection of East Michigan Avenue and East Jackson Drive.

Rather than employing a ladder and capturing the parrot by hand, a member of the fire crew instead hoisted a long wooden pole up to the bird. Twitter user @ChiTownCheese captured the rescue on video, showing the likely freaked-out parrot hesitating for a few moments before latching onto the end of the pole.

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The firefighter then slowly lowers the pole to the ground as the parrot flaps their blue and yellow wings to the cheers of the crowd. (Why didn't the parrot just fly off the ledge? Well, if the bird is a pet, they might've had their wings clipped, making it impossible to fly.)

So far, people have watch the video more than 63,600 times on Twitter.

Kudos to the passing firefighters for pulling off a seemingly flawless rescue. At least this pet decided to wait for help—unlike the Chicago cat last week who decided, "Nah, I'll just jump the five stories down myself." Whatever works!