A sulphur-crested cockatoo that had been living inside a Sydney supermarket for four weeks and surviving on brioche has been captured by wildlife services.
Mickey had been stuck in the Coles supermarket in Campbelltown, New South Wales, for almost a month, with multiple rescue attempts proving unsuccessful as the bird was spooked by people.
New South Wales environment minister Penny Sharpe announced on Tuesday evening that the bird had “been safely captured by wildlife rescuers after spending way too long in Macarthur Square”.
“Mickey is being assessed by experts. We hope Mickey will be flying free by tomorrow,” she said.
The native bird was reportedly trapped inside a store around four weeks ago after flying in through the loading dock of the supermarket.
A concerned wildlife enthusiast named Tom contacted 2GB on Monday after hearing about a plan to shoot the bird as multiple efforts to release it back into the wild had proved unsuccessful, Australian news outlet news.com.au reported.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous, I’m just over the fact people don’t use common sense anymore,” the wildlife lover, identified by only his first name, said.
“The common sense and the right answer is so simple and they make it so difficult and make the wrong answer at the end of the day. What’s the harm in catching the bird and releasing it?”
Authorities, however, assured the public that Mickey was never in danger of being shot.
On Monday night, members of the Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services had tried to lure the bird outside, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
“The poor bird hasn’t had any dark for over four weeks and has been living on brioche and water [placed] by the night manager – who is very fond of the bird,” the rescue group wrote on social media.
“Two traps left but with so much food in the store, who knows if that will work. Hopefully, we exhausted him so much he will come down to a trap for water.”
Wildlife rescuers had even brought in another cockatoo, Old Lady Doris, to reassure Mickey, but it remained scared. The plan seemed promising at first as Mickey flew down, only to become startled and quickly retreat out of reach.
“He’s really scared because there’s been so many attempts – people trying to catch him,” Feathered Friends bird rescue director Ravi Wasan, who brought in Old Lady Doris, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“He’s so scared but the other cockatoo, obviously, is so loving that it really reassured him. We got so close … and then they opened the emergency doors and it spooked him.”
Hours before the bird was finally rescued, Mr Wasan said: “He just needs to chill out, relax and come down without thinking that people are going to try and catch him. The exits where the cockatoo would go out are also the exits for patrons, so he just has to realise that the patrons … aren’t terrifying, which is obviously challenging when he sees everyone as a potential threat.”
A Coles spokesperson confirmed that while the bird was no longer inside the store, it remained within the shopping centre as of Monday afternoon.
“The cockatoo, which has become a friendly fixture in the Macarthur Square shopping centre, is currently not inside Coles but exploring other areas inside the broader shopping precinct,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by NewsWire.
“When the bird entered our store over the past few weeks, our team along with external expert wildlife and bird management organisations have been working extremely hard to safely and importantly, humanely, relocate the cockatoo to where it belongs, in the outdoors.
“We are working hard to balance our responsibility around food safety and animal welfare. While this friendly cockatoo is making himself at home in-store, we want our products to be enjoyed by our customers without any food safety issues.
“The cockatoo is currently not inside Coles, however, if it does return, we will continue to try a number of methods to entice him or her back into the outside world.”
New South Wales premier Chris Minns said on Tuesday: “We don’t want to shoot wildlife. Mickey is everyone in Sydney’s spirit animal at the moment, eating free food.”
A spokesperson for Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service, or Wires, an Australian wildlife rescue organisation, had earlier cautioned against leaving food out for the bird as it could lead to health problems for the animal.
A cockatoo trapped inside a Sydney shopping centre for over a month has finally been caught this afternoon. It's believed the bird nicknamed Mickey flew in through the loading dock at Macarthur Square. The NSW premier Chris Minns denied rumours there was an order to kill.… pic.twitter.com/T3EmmG0OtJ
— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) October 22, 2024
This isn’t the first time a bird has become trapped in a shopping centre. On 12 August, Wires helped rescue another cockatoo that had gotten stuck inside Big W.
A spokesperson said it took several attempts before the bird was finally freed by leaving a back door open. “This is generally the only way we are able to free the birds that regularly fly into the centre via the large sliding opening doors into the complex,” she said.
Ms Sharpe thanked everyone “who rallied to help Mickey, including staff at Coles, Sydney Wildlife Service, Wires and the team at NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service”.
Labor MP for Campbelltown, Greg Warren, said: “I am looking forward to seeing Mickey back in the wild back where he belongs.”
