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Freddy Krueger the Amazonian parrot was so named after he was shot in the face while in the possession of some Brazilian gangsters.
Yes, you read that right.
It’s thought he was trained as a lookout, meant to warn his owners of an armed raid or other intrusion, and was caught in the crossfire when sh*t went down, as it often does in these fraught situations.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported “In the shoot-out, Freddy was hit in the upper beak, blinded, and suffered burns to the feathers that grow between the eyes.”
Afterward, he was taken in by the Zoologico Municipal de Cascavel where he had begun to recover and work toward living a crime-free and otherwise normal bird life.
Then, he was bitten by a (non-venomous) snake in his enclosure. He was bleeding profusely when he was (luckily) found by zookeepers, who patched him back up again.
Then he was kidnapped, along with another Amazon parrot and a cylinder of gas.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Parrots are popular pets due to their social nature, intelligence, and ability to “parrot” sounds and words, so it’s thought that the kidnapping (birdnapping?) was perpetrated in order to sell the parrots on the black market.
Apparently the thieves didn’t get a great look at Freddy before they nabbed him – his damaged face likely would have meant a much smaller profit – so it’s possible he was released by his captors.
Or, he could have escaped, which I personally choose to believe because it goes with Freddy’s whole plucky story.
The zoo’s vet, Ilair Dettoni, said he doesn’t know if “Freddy is lucky or unlucky,” but either way, the bird showed back up at the zoo in his old enclosure.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Probably because he knows the people there peel and crack his food for him, since his mangled beak doesn’t allow him to do it for himself.
I hope Freddy lives a nice, quiet life and one day gets the Disney movie homage that he deserves.
Amen.
