The “Piano Man” performed an uncommon position within the rescue of a pet chicken in South Carolina.
Final month Christine Iturrino was loading groceries into her Myrtle Seashore residence when Joel, the pet cockatiel she had adopted from a chicken rescue group 18 months in the past, flew out of the door.
“In a panic, I attempted to seize him, which you’re not presupposed to do with birds,” Iturrino, 58, told the Washington Post. “That freaked him out and he flew away towards the ocean, screaming all the best way. I used to be heartsick.”
Iturrino, a bus driver, stated her flying good friend preferred to hearken to Nineteen Eighties pop music and had free rein in her residence, solely staying in his cage at evening.
In a Fb publish in regards to the lacking chicken, she wrote that he significantly preferred “Uptown Lady” by Billy Joel, which she assumes impressed his identify.
After Joel received unfastened, a devastated Iturrino printed up “Parrot Alert” fliers providing a reward and tacked them up throughout her neighborhood.
“He’s very folks pleasant, so I had numerous hope. However I used to be nonetheless fairly upset, particularly as extra time handed. I started to fret I’d by no means see him once more,” she stated.
However after “the longest time” — or 9 days later to be precise –Iturrino acquired a textual content whereas at work.
“I work on the seashore — I believe we discovered your chicken,” it stated.
The message was from an worker of Sky Wheel Myrtle Beach, 200-foot Ferris wheel with 42 enclosed gondolas.
The worker, Theresa Glazer, despatched an image of Joel perched on her shoulder contained in the SkyWheel ticket sales space.
Throughout a morning security examine on the wheel, worker Gavin Scire, who’s also known as Spider-Man for his climbing prowess, was about 100 toes up on a ladder when he heard chirping.
He seemed over and noticed Joel hopping on one of many bars.
The chicken, who was too afraid to fly to the bottom, made its option to Scire, who then nestled him in his hoodie.
The cockatiel wouldn’t go right into a pet provider however discovered consolation on Glazer’s shoulder. When Glazer advised her mom in regards to the chicken, her mom talked about the story to a neighbor.
“The neighbor had seen the ‘lacking chicken’ notices about Joel and remembered the truth that he preferred Billy Joel music,” stated the park’s advertising and marketing supervisor, Sean Bailey. “Theresa was then in a position to get Christine’s cellphone quantity from the discover and textual content her.”
Once they noticed the publish about his affinity for Billy Joel, they began taking part in some Piano Man tunes to see if it was certainly Joel.
“When he began bobbing his head up and down, that’s when everybody knew this was positively Christine’s chicken,” Bailey stated.
Joel isn’t the one cockatiel to like “Uptown Lady.”
9 months in the past, a Reddit user posted an adorable video of their pet Moe whistling along to Billy Joel’s 1983 hit.
As for Joel, he was reunited together with his distraught proprietor.
“He squawked at me, then flew over to my shoulder. I stored telling him how a lot I’d missed him, and what a courageous boy he was. It actually was a collection of miracles that introduced him residence,” stated Iturrino, who took her feathered companion to the vet.
The chicken was pronounced wholesome, save for having misplaced a little bit of weight.
“I’m so blissful to have him again — Joel is such an enormous a part of my life,” Iturrino stated. “I noticed that on daily basis whereas he was gone.”
