Police broke into a residence after receiving reports of an old woman screaming out in despair, but instead discovered a PARROT squawking: ‘Help!’
To aid the concerned householder, a squad of cops rushed to the residence in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, and kicked down the door.
When police arrived to the residence at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, they discovered it was vacant and there were no evidence of someone in need of assistance.
Officers were left red-faced after searching the premises and discovering only the green bird calmly sitting in its cage in the corner of the living room.
Shortly after the police came, the homeowner’s son returned home and revealed that it was her feathery friend who had called for aid, not his mother.
On Twitter, West Midlands Force Response tweeted details of the amusing mistake, as well as a photo (above) of officer PC Jukes, who dealt with the issue, with the cheeky green bird.
‘C Team Sutton responds to a report of an elderly woman screaming for aid inside her home,’ they added.
‘The female was pushed into the room and searched, but there was no trace of her.
‘Son comes in and tells PC Jukes that the parrot in the living room is talking and was the one who yelled Help!’
‘Sutton is ready for another day of taking emergency calls!’ the team said yesterday morning.
‘Hopefully there won’t be any more calls about mischievous parrots!’ #PollySendingPoliceCrackers #ParrotGate ‘PollySendingPoliceCrackers ‘PollySendingPoliceCrackers ‘Polly
‘Charge him with wasting police time and send him before the Beak?’ said one online user, Piers Doughty-Brown.
A magistrate is referred to as “The Beak” in archaic slang.
‘Brilliant,’ Kaz replied, ‘but it just goes to show that you are always there to help someone in need, even if it was a parrot this time.’
Andrew wrote: ‘Who’s a brilliant lad then?’ PCMatty added: ‘Reminds me of one of the Carry On films!’
‘Where did the parrot learn to call ‘help’ in a females voice?’ DJ Markymarc was more worried. Is there anything more I should look into?
‘But why has the parrot learnt that phrase?’ said another named Alex.
‘Arrest that parrot!!’ wrote web user Pug. ‘Thank glad Polly was safe and healthy… crackers!’ commented another.
A representative for West Midlands Police declined to offer any further information about the event.
‘All we are confirming is that we were called to an address in Wylde Green on Wednesday at 7.30pm,’ he added.