BY KHALID MAGRAM
Following a short chase, Gary Bintsis reluctantly abandoned his pursuit of Alex. After all, Gary could not fly. And on this misty spring day, Alex was determined to test-drive his unclipped wings in an open sky. In the matter of minutes, the bird was out of Gary’s sight.
“He is not like a dog,” Bintsis said. “Soon he was somewhere up in the trees.”
“He then had to call his wife, Polly Bintsis to break the sad news he knew she would not take lightly.”
“I was crying, I was dying,” Polly said. “We had so many people helping us look for him.”
Losing a pet is distressing and knowing where to look, who to contact and how to find your pet can be very overwhelming.
The Bintsis’s 1-year old male, African Grey Parrot, named ‘Alex’ flew away from couple’s shop located at Danforth Avenue just east of Victoria Park Avenue. They were completely devastated and unsure how they would ever cope.
“You get so attached to your pet, you feel like it’s your child,” Polly admitted. “So I felt depressed and anxious.” “She was determined, as any mother would be, to find her child and even went so far as to acquire the help of a pet psychic.”
Luckily, after three days of stressful and sleepless nights, and a search that seemed relentless, the Bintsis’s found Alex. The bird had flown into a back yard of a house in the Main and Gerrard Street in Beaches/ East York area. The homeowner took the bird to the local Humane Society’s animal shelter.
Bintsis said that it was not until Polly contacted Rob, who had lost his female parrot Amy. She learned Toronto Humane Society has a bird she was describing to Rob. Shortly after, the Bintsis’s were reunited with their bird.
“Life had returned to normal once we got Alex back,” Bintsis said.
According to the Toronto Humane Society, a non-profit organization separate from City of Toronto’s Animal Services, every year thousands of much-loved pets, become missing pets in GTA including some here in East York. Many are never seen again by their owners—a heartbreaking experience.
A few safety measures can spare pet lovers the distressing experience of searching for their lost pet.
Technological advances such as pet microchip identification and registering a pet with organization such as Humane Society can help. Keeping record of your pet’s veterinary bills, proof of purchase and pictures/video of you, and your pet can free you from hassle of proving proof of your pet’s ownership.
“We did not have any veterinary bills, registration receipts just few pictures so it was a hassle,” Polly said.
For further information on how to find or report a missing pet, please visit the Toronto Humane Society’s website:
http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/lostandfound/default.asp
[...] *Melody* wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt… Gary Bintsis reluctantly abandoned his pursuit of Alex. After all, Gary could not fly. And on this misty spring day, Alex was determined to test-drive his unclipped wings in an open sky. In the matter of minutes, the bird […] [...]
There is a yahoo group, 911ParrotAlert, manned by volunteers who try very hard to reunite lost birds with their owners. You can fill out a form here and a volunteer will post it to the database: http://www.911parrotalert.com/
In the International Lost & Found Bird Database, you can look at or do a specific search of all the messages for lost, found, and reunited birds. Also, the “Files” section gives many helpful tips on finding a lost bird. Database: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/911ParrotAlert/?yguid=9153026
Beverly
i am gonna show this to my friend, man