A PET owner is today reunited with her parrot which was on the loose for five days from his home in Ipswich. Maria Dellabella, 45, of Innes End, has been letting her green amazon parrot fly freely everyday for the past four months.

A PET owner is today reunited with her parrot which was on the loose for five days from his home in Ipswich.

Maria Dellabella, 45, of Innes End, has been letting her green amazon parrot fly freely everyday for the past four months.

When Ricky the parrot, who has been Miss Dellabella's much loved pet and companion for seven years, disappeared from her home at the end of April, she feared he may have been stolen.

She said: “He use to go out and play outside every day but he'd always come back.

“My neighbour said some boys were trying to get him down from a tree, and I didn't know if someone's had taken him or if he'd died.

“It was the not knowing what's happened to him that made it so hard.”

Miss Dellabella's ex-husband brought Ricky for her seven years ago and since her husband left shortly after, the parrot has become her companion.

She said he follows her everywhere and although he couldn't talk he would perch on her shoulder and chirp for food.

She said: “He comes everywhere with me, around to visit friends and to the shops, that's how close we are.”

Speaking of his shock return, she said: “He just flew back in through the patio door and I was so happy to see him.

“I'm not letting him out anymore and I'm going to clip his wings because I can't bear to lose him again.”

N Did you see Ricky on his travels? Write and tell us where. Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

Winston Churchill is said to have owned a macaw parrot that was reputed to curse the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.