Paco the parakeet has been found, and now the alleged bird-napper is speaking out to insist he did not mean to take the bird and his intentions were never bad.
In an interview with Global News, the man, who refused to be identified, said he was at exotic bird refuge, Perroquets en folie in Saint-Placide around 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s a complete misunderstanding,” he told Global News.
“I am not a thief. A thief does not kiss a bird.”
He was playing with birds when Paco apparently jumped on his finger.
READ MORE: Prized parakeet, Paco, stolen from Quebec bird zoo
Security camera footage supplied by the bird sanctuary shows a grey-haired man with a blue jacket entering part of the sanctuary, opening the Alexandrine parakeet’s cage and carrying him off while perched on his finger.
The man Global News spoke to admitted he was the one in the footage.
Once outside, the parakeet flew away; he said he felt guilty, and didn’t say anything to the workers as the zoo closed.
“I had not realized that the wings were not clipped. I came outside really fast and the bird did almost a circle and a half around the location and it flew into a tree and it fell on the floor,” he told Global News.
“I was really nervous that I had actually brought a bird, and it flew away two times that day.”
He said he spent most of the afternoon looking for the bird.
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When he finally found it, the man said he was afraid to leave it in one of the outdoor cages and the zoo was already closed.
The alleged bird thief said he took Paco to a Laval hotel for the night; Paco flew away for a second time and hotel staff helped him locate the parakeet.
“I recovered the bird. I had the bird on my shoulder. I was petting it, I was taking care of it,” he told Global News.
“If I were to have wanted to steal that bird, I would not be flashing that bird in front of people.”
This was the second time Paco was taken out of the sanctuary.
The first time occurred in 2011 and it took an investigation by provincial police and about a year to get the bird back.
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The sanctuary posted a message on Facebook to let everyone know that Paco had been found safe and sound.
The man was contacted by a Sûreté du Québec investigator Monday inquiring about the parakeet and he met with the owner Monday to return it.
The man said he apologized profusely to owner Melie Breton for any inconvenience he may have caused.
“All of us are animal lovers, if I were to have any bad intentions, that bird would not be in my possession,” he insisted.
“I just want him to know that if I caused any inconvenience for just the fact that I was holding on to this bird, I’m sorry.”
Alexandrine parakeets originally hail from India, can live to be about 30 and are known to be good mimics.
Of the 150 birds at the Perroquets en folie zoo, Paco was the only Alexandrine.
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau
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