Ollie sees a thief: Brockville, Ont. woman vows to listen to parrot that alerted her to break-in
"BROCKVILLE, ONT. -- When Barbara Engel's 18-year-old parrot, Oliver, spoke up earlier this week, she didn't think much of it.
'I was in the basement & Oliver was sitting in his room & I heard him saying 'Hello, hello', & I thought that's strange, he doesn't usually talk unless there's somebody else around,' Engel said.
So, she ignored him, chalking it up to someone passing by on the street.
However, when she returned upstairs, she knew something was not right.
'I noticed that my purse was in an awkward position so I checked it over & that's when I noticed someone had stolen from me,' she said.
A thief had quickly entered through a screen door, taking cash, credit cards, & a cell phone.
'I made sure Ollie was okay because that would be devastating for me if something happened to him. Then, my neighbours came over & said they'd been watching a suspicious person & took a picture so we know who it is,' Engel said.
Engel called police & with the help of the photo, a suspect was caught later that evening.
This is not the first time Brockville police have had to deal with a parrot on a call.
'I don't know what it is, we can't get away from parrots in this town,' laughed staff sergeant Andrew Harvie from the Brockville Police Service.
'About 5 years ago, there was an officer banging on the side of a door & he was greeted by a parrot. The officer kept saying 'Police!' at the door & the parrot would answer 'Who is it!?" It went on for about 4 or 5 minutes until he realized he was talking to a parrot,' Harvie said.
'The other time, there was a parrot calling for help through an intercom in an apartment building. The officers actually broke down the door & forced their way in thinking somebody was in need inside...but they found it was a parrot,' Harvie said with a smile...
When asked if Brockville police will now have to take special parrot training, he laughed
'I hope not! I hope we don't see anymore parrots in town but there's quite a few apparently.'
Engel says she is happy her bird was uninjured & praised her quick thinking neighbours.
'We all keep an eye on each other because it's a small neighbourhood & if they hadn't been thinking & taking his picture, we wouldn't have had something to go by,' she said...
'I guess the takeaway from me is that my neighbours have my back & I am grateful to them & it's nice to have reliable neighbours. And thank you, Oliver, for alerting me & I should have gone upstairs right away,' she said.
When asked if she will listen to him more often now, she smiled.
'Yes, I guess I'd better!' she answered, laughing.
'Maybe we'll have to train him to say, 'get down on the ground' instead.'
Nate Vandermeer
Aug. 21/2020
ottawa.ctvnews.ca
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