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A tagged pet parrot that flew into a home in Khatib on Apr. 11 was taken care of by the occupants.

The bird then had its photos put up on Reddit by a user, Jerry, in hopes of reuniting the creature with its owner, besides soliciting advice on how to care for the bird, a cinnamon conure.

The good news is, the bird was eventually reunited with its owner.

The bad news is, the process was apparently trying for the bird owner.

It appeared that the process of retrieving the bird ruffled some feathers.

Bird returned

The bird's owner, Andrea, reached out to Mothership to share that the bird, Jamuel, was safely returned to her on Apr. 13, 2023, at 8pm.

Jamuel lives with Andrea's elderly grandfather and helper, and has always been a beloved member of the family, according to Andrea.

Andrea shared that Jamuel is about two years old and has been with her family for about a year now, having rescued the bird when it was tinier and abandoned.

When Jamuel escaped from his cage, he flew about four blocks away from her grandfather's home at Yishun Ring Road.

Asked for compensation

In screenshots of the text messages seen by Mothership, Jerry had apparently attempted to ask Andrea to compensate him for looking after Jamuel for the two days the bird was in his care.

He wrote:

"I'm wondering if you had any intentions to offer some kind compensation for our time, energy and effort?

We took it in when it's scared despite not being bird people, at 7:30pm when I had to attend a meeting so I cancelled it because of this emergency, feed it, housed it, went to get a proper cage at 12am so it has a proper cage to stay, publicised it over Reddit and many social groups, cleaned it and played with it and loved it dearly."

Previously, Jerry said someone near him donated a free cage and some pellets to his family.

Andrea then said she agreed to compensate him and offered to reimburse him the S$50 cost of the cage, thinking that he had bought it with his own money.

"In the moment, I was afraid that I would not get Jamuel back, so I had no choice but to compensate Jerry in monetary form," she told Mothership.

Andrea alleged that Jerry's behaviour was "entitled" as he apparently insisted on keeping the cage, while "taking the money" in exchange for the parrot.

In a text message to Jerry, Andrea mentioned that she would collect the cage and her parrot, but Jerry replied that he wanted to keep the cage.

"And if you just want to collect the cage [because] of the compensation, then might as well don't compensate because that's not how you thank someone for fostering," Jerry texted back to Andrea.

"Love it more before it flies away again"

After collecting Jamuel, Andrea received a long message from Jerry -- a seven-paragraph text in which he shared what he knew about keeping birds and disagreed with Andrea about how she handled Jamuel.

Andrea claimed that she handled Jamuel in a "normal and safe fashion" like how she always does, in which "Jamuel is used to".

The claim that Jamuel "screamed" when she picked him up "softly and gently" was "simply false", she retorted.

Andrea said: "Any bird pet owner will know that it is safe to handle birds in the manner that I did in front of Jerry."

In addition, Andrea also clarified that the small temporary cage she used to pick up Jamuel was not the actual cage at home.

This was after Jerry thought it could be the cage the parrot is housed in all the time.

"I couldn't have brought the actual huge and heavy cage that Jamuel lives in all the way to Jerry's house, therefore it only made sense to me to use a temporary cage for Jamuel's transport," Andrea said.

Andrea also claimed that when Jamuel returned home, the bird was "absolutely starving and malnourished".

Jamuel instantly "gorged" on all the food he could, as Andrea assumed the pellets donated to Jerry were not to the parrot's liking.

On his Reddit thread, Jerry posted an update on Apr. 14, 2023, saying he was devastated he had to return the bird and that the owner was "less loving than [his family] were with the bird".

Mothership has reached out to Jerry, and he preferred not to comment as he did not wish to share his personal views on the matter publicly.

In response to his update on Reddit, the owner said that while she appreciates Jerry for caring for Jamuel's well-being, she reiterated that the bird is treated with love, attention and proper care.

Andrea said:

"While I'm grateful that Jamuel found its way to your home after escaping from its cage one evening, I find it amusing that you suggest my love for Jamuel is in question, given that you have only known Jamuel for two days. I respect your passion for birds and your desire to ensure their safety and well-being, but I must emphasise that your brief interaction with Jamuel does not give you the authority to question my love for Jamuel."

Top photos via Jerry & the owner