The distraught owners of a pet cockatiel named Ronaldo are calling for public help to return it safely, a week after it took flight from their Fife home.
The four-year-old bird, named after Juventus’ Portuguese football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, has been missing from the Heads’ family home in Rosyth since July 29.
Despite several sightings in nearby Inverkeithing, desperate attempts to coax the bird from high trees have failed.
“We are all devastated he’s gone and we are so desperate to get him back home safe,” said owner Lynne Head.
“We got him four years ago and it was my nine-year-old, football mad son Lewis who gave him the name of his favourite player.
“During lockdown we’ve been letting Ronaldo fly round the house and my daughter, Mia has been making great progress training him and calming him down as he can be quite aggressive.
“We only had a window open a couple of inches but he’s managed to get out fly away.
“He was spotted in a tree in Struan Place in Inverkeithing so we raced down there and spent nearly 12 hours trying to coax him back into his cage.
“The neighbours even allowed us into an upstairs bedroom to get closer to him but despite hours of calling him and trying to attract him back into his cage we just couldn’t manage it which was heartbreaking.”
Since then, Lynne said she’s been told of sightings across the Forth in Edinburgh, Portobello and even in the Lanarkshire town of Kilsyth, all of which have turned out to be false.
“We’ve had our hopes dashed a few times and we’re now growing increasingly concerned for Ronaldo’s welfare.
“We think it’s more likely that Ronaldo is closer to home and still somewhere in Fife and we just hope that someone will see or hear him as he has a very distinctive loud cry.
“It would be wonderful, especially for the children, to see Ronaldo safely return, we’ve all been lost without him.”
The public are urged to report any suspected sightings of the wayward Ronaldo to Lynne on her Facebook page or via the appeal on the Rosyth Billboard Facebook page.
