VIDEO: Men Steal California Family’s Pet Parrot from Front Porch

Footage shows a California family’s pet parrot being taken from their front porch on March 12 – with the culprit taking the bird’s cage and placing it in a truck before taking off.

Abigail Ayapantecatl wrote in a March 14 Facebook post that Luna, a grey African parrot belonging to her brother, was taken – along with its cage – from his porch by two men in Santa Ana, California.

In a video obtained by ABC 7, a man can be seen removing the bird’s cage from the porch and putting it in the bed of a truck.

According to Ayapantecatl, her brother pursued the culprit before the men “drove off quickly down Main towards Warner.” 

She also noted they were driving a “red SUV” with no license plate and shared photos of the men.

“Typically we have him out for a little while, just to get some sun, and the person just came in and in a matter of seconds took the bird and the cage,” Karen Gerardo, described by ABC 7, as one of the parrot’s owners, said.

According to Ayapantecatl, the situation is all the more urgent because the bird is “sick” and “needs daily medication.” 

“We’re devastated, we just want our parrot back,” she wrote.

“It’s been difficult. You know, the cage wasn’t a small cage,” Gerardo told ABC 7. “It was a 4′ by 2′ in the middle of our living room, and having that void is a daily reminder that our pet is no longer with us. Not because it died, but because it was stolen by someone.”

The Encyclopaedia Britannica noted African grey parrots are known for their intelligence, with scientists having found them capable of associating “sound and meaning” – “demolishing long-held theories that birds were capable of only mimicking human voices,” counting, and identifying shapes and colors. 

ABC 7 observed that the birds also have remarkable longevity, sometimes living between 70 and 80 years, and typically retail for thousands of dollars.