Tickled pink: How a missing galah beat the odds to find his best mate

EXCLUSIVE

By Damien Hansen 

The grin on Oscar Fleming’s face may say it all, but it’s the tale of the nine-year-old’s extraordinary reunion with his pet galah that’s warming hearts across Brisbane.

When ‘Glawhi’, the adolescent galah escaped his home in Bardon, in the city’s inner west last Saturday morning, his owners feared the worst.

After returning home from junior rugby to discover their well-trained and talkative galah was missing, his owners began alerting neighbours, hoping someone would come across their much-loved pet.

Despite a brief sighting in a nearby street, the trail quickly went cold and as night fell hope was fading of finding their pink feathered friend.

“That night Oscar was devastated,’ said Oscar’s father Ben Fleming. “We were at the Reds grand final, but even then he was flat.”

Galah’s are known to be extremely intelligent and enormously fond of humans but despite the obvious bond the family feared the call of the wild and the lure of the nearby Mt Coot-tha bushland may have been be too strong.

Glawhi became part of the Fleming household three years ago when he appeared one day on the back fence and took an immediate shining to the family’s oldest son.

“He was very tame but wanted nothing to do with adults, only Oscar.”

“We knew someone would be missing him so we called RSPCA and put an ad in the paper to try and find his owner,” said Mr Fleming.

Someone eventually came to collect their lost pet but decided not to take him back after seeing the bond the bird had built with Oscar in such a short period of time.

“That’s when we googled, how long do galah’s live?’ said Mr Fleming.

The species can live up to 70 years in captivity.

Three years on, the pair’s beautiful bond looked certain to be broken.

“I didn’t think he’d come back,” said 9-year-old Oscar.

For more than three days, 77 long hours,  Glawhi’s whereabouts remained a mystery until he revealed himself in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Yesterday afternoon he appeared out of the blue,  on the oval of Oscar’s school at Indooroopilly, three suburbs and more than 7 kilometres away.

“I was at rugby training and a bird tried to land on my shoulder,” said Oscar.  “He missed then he flew to the ground and just sat there and squawked ‘Hello Oscar.”

The all too familiar greeting he’d heard countless times before.

The feathered fugitive then flew up to the top of the cricket nets where he chatted more.

“He said hello how are you doing? I couldn’t believe it,” said Oscar.

“We need to go and buy a lotto ticket, what are the chances? He hasn’t just found Oscar once, he’s found him twice,” said Mr Fleming.

11News understands a new bigger home is being built for Glawhi, with enhanced security features.

“He is such a smart bird, I reckon he could untie a knot,” said Oscar.

Maybe, but he certainly couldn’t break his best mate’s heart.