Feathery informant leads RCMP to Kootenay grow-op
Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 3:55 
About a half-dozen parrots were found at the abandoned Kootenay sawmill, which also contained an illegal marijuana grow-op. (CBC)RCMP in B.C. have busted another marijuana grow operation in the Kootenays, but how and where they found it has some locals squawking.
An investigation began when a concerned citizen spotted a large macaw parrot hanging around Salmo, just south of Nelson, and phoned the local RCMP detachment.
Const. Brad Williams is no ornithologist, but he knew enough about birds to know parrots are not typical residents of mountainous southern B.C., so he followed the bird.
"The first place I came to is this abandoned mill site and as I walked down I saw more parrots," Williams told CBC News.
"I guess you'd call it a giant bird cage which is full of giant macaw parrots, which we have yet to explain," he said.
But the parrots weren't the only thing they found in the abandoned sawmill. Hidden deep inside the mothballed mill was a sophisticated hydroponic grow-op with 450 marijuana plants.
"The bird squawked so to speak," Williams said after apprehending two men, destroying the plants and shutting down the operation.
A stray macaw parrot first led police to the abandoned sawmill. (CBC)The birds, about a half-dozen of them, were as healthy and well tended as the marijuana plants, said Williams, and have been left for the men, who were released without charges, to claim whenever they want.
"At this point, the birds have lots of food. As far as I am concerned there is no problem with the birds being here," he said.
"It's not the typical scenario that we run into as police every day."
The operation was one of the largest the RCMP have found on a commercial property in the region, said Const. Shane Orr.
"It's unfortunate to see that the economic climate is such that you'd turn to growing marijuana in a closed sawmill, but that seems to be the case here," he said.