'Imagine holding your kid captive': 'Rescuers' demand $2,500 from woman to release missing pet macaw

Pet owner Fara is thankful that her macaws are back home safe, but it was after encountering "vultures" along the way.

Speaking to AsiaOne on Thursday (Nov 10), the 35-year-old restaurant manager shared that her pets Tiago and Oka went missing on Oct 15 after releasing them outside for a usual round of "free flying".

The trained birds flew at a field in the north part of Singapore, but they did not return back to her after 15 minutes, said Fara, who declined to reveal her surname.

Likening it to a manhunt, the macaw owner of three years shared that she lodged a police report and uploaded a "missing parrots" notice on social media while walking around the neighbourhood.

"Birds will do their contact calls if they get lost, or to let us know where they are," she said, adding that she found Oka at the roof of a HDB block in another estate.

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After posting another appeal for Tiago – this time with the words "reward will be given" – on social media, Fara shared that she received a piece of good news from an acquaintance on day three of the parrot hunt.

"He called us to say his friend spotted a macaw around the area," the pet owner said, adding that it quickly turned into a "red flag" when she went over but there was no sign of Tiago.

Describing how the acquaintance claimed that the bird "flew further away" and his friend would catch it, Fara said: "We told him to just let us know the location, and we will get our bird back"

After pressing for Tiago's whereabouts, Fara shared that the 'rescuers' asked her, via her acquaintance, if there was a reward for finding the bird, before revealing that it would cost $2,500 to release it.

"Ya, if not they [will] just release back to nature", according to a text message to Fara.

"Isn't that holding my bird for ransom? So I just told him to meet me and then we [will] talk about the money," she said.

'Rescuers' with red flags

In a TikTok video shared on Tuesday (Nov 8), it showed Fara reuniting with Tiago, but she told AsiaOne that the whole experience was a bittersweet one.

Declining to reveal how much "ransom" was eventually paid to her 'rescuers', Fara said: "Once we got Tiago back home, he texted and said something like 'today you get your bird back, you never know [if you will] next time'.

"We [also] found out that this person has a history of doing this… Imagine holding your kid captive, and asking for a ridiculous amount of money in exchange for him."

There was another "red flag" suggesting the 'rescuers' had 'saved' the bird just for the money, according to Fara.

She said: "I believe that he had Tiago since [the first day he went missing] and waited for us to share another social media post with [the words] 'reward will be given'.

"For domesticated birds, if they're out in the wild for a few days, they will look haggard, dirty and starving… but Tiago didn't look unkempt."

Even after this fortunate but harrowing experience, Fara shared that she would still let her macaws fly freely.

Using Apple AirTags in the past to track her "feathered kids" did not work due to their limited range, Fara said. 

But she added that she would still "minimise the risks" by training them and using a more suitable GPS in the future to track their whereabouts.

"We see our birds as beings deserving of autonomy and freedom, even if they will not be perfectly safe all the time."

With over 120,000 views to Fara's TikTok video, several netizens called out the 'rescuers' for their greed.

"Unbelievable there are such people helping and asking for that much reward," a netizen said, while another likened them to opportunist vultures.

READ ALSO: Couple responds to call for help on Facebook, spots lost beagle inside Sentosa drain after 2 days

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