Rashid Vittal
Daijiworld Media Network-Mangaluru (PMD)

Mangaluru, Sep 7: It is a common phenomena for us to lose our purse, money, gold, documents in buses, rickshaws, hired cars, at shop counters, or on the streets. At times, a benevolent being hands back the lost property to the rightful owner, and such instances of humaneness are up on news. This time, a different type of humanitarianism was evidenced on Monday, September 5, in city.

President of Mangalore Hope Foundation and Vice President of M Friends, Saif Sultan, stepped out in the afternoon on Monday, September 5, and was heading toward Highland Hospital to visit and help poor patients. On his way there, he saw a cat attacking an outlandish parrot on the street and went to rescue the feathered creature. Parrots are usually green in color and one may spot white parrots in a bird sanctuary, but this parrot was grey in color and caught his attention. He treated the bird to first aid and fed it . On enquiring about the bird, he was told by the ornithologists that it was a rare, sought-after, Grey African parrot. Saif looked up the internet for information about the bird and found that it is one of those rare parrots, the national bird of Congo,Africa, which could fetch one as much as Rs 1.5 lac to 4 lac.

Saif sought the owner of the lost bird on social media and Whatsapp, which went viral immediately after. In about two hours' time, he heard back from the owner of the grey pet, the owner of Azad steels in Bunder, Mansour, a resident of Kaprigudde. It was learnt that the grey bird was missing from home for the last couple of days. Mansour, a bird-lover, bought the bird in Bangalore and taught it English and Arabic. The skillful bird was taught to welcome the guests at home by parroting, 'Salam'. Mansur was upset about not having found his bird and planned on filing a police complaint. It was a delight for both Mansur and Saif to have retrieved the bird and saved it, respectively.

The grey parrot, in gratitude, thanked Saif by saying "shukran", which amazed those present there. Saif's principle of not hurting animals was lauded by his peers at M Friends, Mangaluru.