Iconic macaw is back home safe and sound
GLADSTONE'S iconic bird, Vicden, is back with her owner Duane Venema after being missing for more than a week.
The three-year-old Macaw was reported stolen after she didn't return home one night from her daily free-flight outing.
Duane, along with friend Tameka Bishop, took to social media to help find where the bird was located.
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He received multiple phone calls from strangers around the nation with information and photos of the possible macaw.
While macaws are all almost identical, Vicden has a missing toe and that is what eventually led to the return.
An anonymous tip-off from a local led Mr Venema to an address at Barney Point where Vicden was retrieved, after being kept in a dark back room.
While macaws are worth a lot of money, Duane said Vicden was priceless to him.
"I've had her since she was four months old," he said. "She drives me crazy sometimes but I wouldn't give her up,"
The only free-flight macaw in Gladstone will now be house bound.
"It's so good to have her home and she won't be let out of her cage again," he said.
FAST FACTS
- Macaws are native to the jungles of Central and South America
- Largest of all the parrots
- Wingspan up to five feet
- Macaws can live for 80-plus years
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