too&me
12-20-2007, 01:54 PM
I found this while net surfing & wanted to share. One of those wonderful endings. Parrot Returned..there are still angels in the world.
December 17, 2007 -- Who's a lucky boy?
A pet parrot with a Brooklyn accent who was stolen on the Upper East Side has turned up in a Queens restaurant.
The 18-year-old African gray named Franklin was swiped from posh pet boarding house Sutton Aviary on the day before Thanksgiving while his owners visited family in Florida.
Within 24 hours, Franklin - shoved inside a Pampers diaper box - was being peddled on a street in Jamaica, Queens, where a waitress named Elizabeth bought him for her kids.
But when the young mom read in The Post of Franklin's disappearance and the $10,000 cash reward being offered for his safe return, she contacted his distraught owners, Leigh Ann and Lee Frankel.
"My husband thought the call was just another empty lead, but I knew there was more to this one," said Leigh Ann, 52.
"Sure enough, we get another call on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.
"I said to her: 'Elizabeth, you have kids, right? This is like you're walking down the street and somebody grabs your kid.' "
She explained that once, at a low point in her life, "Franklin was what kept me alive because I had to look after my family - he is my family.
"I begged her to give me a phone number so we could meet up. But she thought maybe she would be arrested because she bought a hot bird."
When Elizabeth, who asked that her last name not be printed, revealed that Franklin would say "goodbye" every time she put on her coat and that he incessantly mimicked a cellphone ring tone, Leigh Ann knew she had found her baby.
Elizabeth agreed to return him, and collected the reward.
During a tearful reunion yesterday in the kitchen of Elizabeth's family restaurant in Queens, Franklin was perched on his real owners' arms.
"I was shaking so much I couldn't open the cage," said fitness-instructor Leigh Ann.
"I put my finger in, and he stepped right up. My husband dropped to his knees in tears."
Franklin spent the day munching poppy-seed muffins and splashing in a birdbath.
"It was so overwhelming. I never thought I would get him back in this huge city filled with so many people," Leigh Ann said.
"This would never have happened without The Post and the support of my husband.
"I never cried like I cried, and I was never as happy as I was today."
The Frankels and Franklin will have Christmas dinner at Elizabeth's restaurant.
"These people were so good and kind, they did the right thing that had to be done," Leigh Ann said.
"It's the holiday season, and families need to be with their family, and Franklin was never our pet - he is our child."
December 17, 2007 -- Who's a lucky boy?
A pet parrot with a Brooklyn accent who was stolen on the Upper East Side has turned up in a Queens restaurant.
The 18-year-old African gray named Franklin was swiped from posh pet boarding house Sutton Aviary on the day before Thanksgiving while his owners visited family in Florida.
Within 24 hours, Franklin - shoved inside a Pampers diaper box - was being peddled on a street in Jamaica, Queens, where a waitress named Elizabeth bought him for her kids.
But when the young mom read in The Post of Franklin's disappearance and the $10,000 cash reward being offered for his safe return, she contacted his distraught owners, Leigh Ann and Lee Frankel.
"My husband thought the call was just another empty lead, but I knew there was more to this one," said Leigh Ann, 52.
"Sure enough, we get another call on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.
"I said to her: 'Elizabeth, you have kids, right? This is like you're walking down the street and somebody grabs your kid.' "
She explained that once, at a low point in her life, "Franklin was what kept me alive because I had to look after my family - he is my family.
"I begged her to give me a phone number so we could meet up. But she thought maybe she would be arrested because she bought a hot bird."
When Elizabeth, who asked that her last name not be printed, revealed that Franklin would say "goodbye" every time she put on her coat and that he incessantly mimicked a cellphone ring tone, Leigh Ann knew she had found her baby.
Elizabeth agreed to return him, and collected the reward.
During a tearful reunion yesterday in the kitchen of Elizabeth's family restaurant in Queens, Franklin was perched on his real owners' arms.
"I was shaking so much I couldn't open the cage," said fitness-instructor Leigh Ann.
"I put my finger in, and he stepped right up. My husband dropped to his knees in tears."
Franklin spent the day munching poppy-seed muffins and splashing in a birdbath.
"It was so overwhelming. I never thought I would get him back in this huge city filled with so many people," Leigh Ann said.
"This would never have happened without The Post and the support of my husband.
"I never cried like I cried, and I was never as happy as I was today."
The Frankels and Franklin will have Christmas dinner at Elizabeth's restaurant.
"These people were so good and kind, they did the right thing that had to be done," Leigh Ann said.
"It's the holiday season, and families need to be with their family, and Franklin was never our pet - he is our child."