Wandering galah Charlie has been found at McGuire College, Shepparton, after going missing from his Shepparton home 10 days prior.
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“He must have thought he needed an education or something,” Charlie’s owner Sharna Locke said.
After finding his way into the high school on November 30, Charlie was scared up into a tree by some children throwing sticks and rocks at him.
But he was rescued after a student, Jakson Barter, stopped them and fetched the school’s maintenance man to bring a ladder to get Charlie down.
Jakson refused to go back into class until the bird was safe, according to Ms Locke.
She then picked Charlie up from the Barter household.
Ms Locke had been searching for Charlie for 10 days, and had even rescued someone else's pet galah in the process, in Wakool Crt.
“Turns out when I got him home that it wasn’t my bird. I could tell just by the rings around his eyes, and he started talking — and Charlie doesn’t talk,” she said.
Having a chat: Talking galah Echo was rescued by Sharna Locke during her 10-day search for her own galah, Charlie.
It turns out the galah’s name was Echo, and he belonged to an elderly couple.
Ms Locke managed to get in contact with the bird’s owner, who came around for an emotional reunion.
“As soon as he saw his bird he started crying,” Ms Locke said. “Apparently his wife had been crying all day.”
When Ms Locke posted in the Shepparton Community Group and Surrounds Facebook page, reporting that Charlie had been found, she said everyone was rapt.
“The response from the community has been pretty overwhelming,’’ she said.
Perched: Charlie having a sit on a handy shoulder.
Ms Locke has also rescued another galah, which her mother is caring for, but no-one in the community has come forward to claim the bird.
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