Bird rescued from car grill given new home
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 13:45
City Parrots in Myiopsitta monachus - Monk Parakeet, Rescue, Urban parrots

Coral Springs, Fla. (CNN) -- The parakeet that went on a wild ride in the grill of a car is now getting a new home. The little guy, named Petey, was adopted by a bird lover in Florida. The parakeet will now have several new feathered friends at his new house.

One very lucky bird is embarking on an all new flight path. The Wild Monk parakeet, named Petey, is being adopted from the Sawgrass Nature Center in Coral Springs. Donna Fife, wildlife rehabilitator says, "He's doing really well. He's eating like crazy and he likes to bite."

Petey was taken to the nature center just days ago after being rescued from a car's front grill. A woman found him trapped in her vehicle and then called the fire department for help.

With no serious injuries, caretakers quickly put Petey up for adoption. Fife says, "Everybody was trying to identify him as their pet, so they all had special songs. One of them was singing 'Cucaracha' to him. He got the Barney song sung to him, and he got 'You Are My Sunshine,' sung to him, and a lot of different languages spoken to him, called by a lot of different names and he really didn't respond to anyone, just kind of looked at them and not me."

A bird lover to his core, this guy jumped at the chance to take Petey home. Joe Bettio says, "I've been trying to get a parrot from the other places for a long time. So, now this one's up for adoption, so I might as well take advantage of it."

The family owns several other birds and look forward to introducing Petey to his new flock.

The family says their birds love jamming out to classic rock and, amazingly, all have the same favorite song. Bettio says, "'Freebird,' of course! What did you think? But we're not letting him free, though. The only place he'll be free is in our house."

Petey's caretakers at the nature center said they couldn't release him back into the wild because Monk parakeets aren't native to the area.



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