PRINCETON, N.J. — A concerned caller reported an exotic bird in the New Jersey woods, but when rescuers got to the animal, they discovered it was fake.
Tim Lynch told WPVI that he initially texted his nephew, who works in the Princeton Police Department, after seeing what appeared to be a parrot in the woods and thinking that somebody’s pet might have flown out of a window.
In a Facebook post, the Princeton Police Department shared a photo showing the blue “bird” in a tree.
Animal control officer Jim Ferry was dispatched to the scene, where he met up with Lynch.
“The two of us were walking back there not wanting to scare it so it flies away, and as we get closer I’m thinking, ‘oh my gosh, this poor thing is dead,’” Lynch told WPVI. “We’re about two feet away, he’s about to throw the net over it, and he goes, ‘it’s fake.’”
“We have a saying in Animal Control that a sick or injured animal is very easy to catch, and this was probably the easiest catch I’ve ever had,” Ferry told WPVI.
In its Facebook post, the Princeton Police Department shared a photo of Ferry holding the ceramic bird, saying that it “did not appear frightened” and anyone who is missing a ceramic parrot should contact them.