A nine-year-old reunion has brought a talkative African grey parrot named Barney back to his owner, Robert Mortimer. Barney was stolen in 2017 during a burglary that ransacked Mortimer's home in Bradford, West Yorkshire. At the time, Mortimer posted flyers and offered a £500 reward, but eventually accepted the bird was likely lost forever.
Mortimer, now 56, was astonished to receive a call this week informing him that Barney had been found abandoned in an IKEA car park approximately 20 miles away. Thanks to the parrot's microchip, staff at an animal rescue center identified him as Barney. However, the phone number associated with the chip was no longer active, as Mortimer had changed it in the intervening years. He had also moved from his home in Bradford due to the trauma of the crime, during which his pet chihuahua also suffered fatal injuries.
A police officer, upon seeing news reports of Barney's disappearance, was able to track down Mortimer. "She called me up and said 'Your parrot's been found,'" Mortimer recounted. "I told her 'He can't have been' – it was nearly ten years ago. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I gave him up for dead a long time ago."
Mortimer, who had kept Barney's cage hoping for a miracle, drove to the Hillary Harry and Friends Wildlife Rescue in Diggle, near Oldham, to collect his long-lost pet. Barney, now 19 years old, is reportedly in good health and settling into Mortimer's new home in Scholes, near Cleckheaton. He has already begun to speak again, saying "Hello" and "Morning." "Nine years is a long time for a bird but I think he's beginning to recognise me," Mortimer said. "He was always a brilliant mimic but he would only copy what I say, never anyone else!"
Barney was stolen along with a laptop and gardening equipment in August 2017. At the time, authorities suspected he had been put in a sack and would likely be making noise wherever he was kept. Despite an investigation, two suspects were released without charge, and the trail went cold.
On July 30, Barney was found hopping around the car park at IKEA in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. He was initially taken to a local vet, but when the microchip's phone number proved unusable, he was transferred to the rescue center. Gemma Dumbill, the owner of the rescue center, stated that many people claimed Barney was theirs, but none could provide proof. After an internet search for "Barney and Bradford," she found an article about the 2017 theft and, with the help of a police officer, was able to locate Mortimer. "It's always wonderful to be able to reunite someone with a lost pet, but to have a happy ending after nine years is incredible," Dumbill said.
Mortimer expressed his gratitude to everyone involved in Barney's return. He noted that he had always been fascinated by parrots and their mimicry, but after Barney's theft, he could never bring himself to get another bird, stating, "You can replace electrical goods but you can't replace a pet."