Gordo the skateboarding parrot stolen from his owner’s Baldwin Park home
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Avian celebrity Gordo the skateboarding parrot was stolen from his owner’s home in Baldwin Park yesterday, and the search is on for the birdnapper.
Gordo is a 30-year-old Guatemalan parrot; his owner Frank Mirales has had him for about 10 years. He was taken yesterday just after 10 a.m., officials with the Baldwin Park police department said. Our colleagues at KTLA report:
Mireles says his mother heard some commotion on the porch of their Bess Street home and saw a man running away with Gordo. A neighbor’s security camera caught the ordeal on video. Mireles has had Gordo for a decade. He says the parrot is a popular attraction in his neighborhood, especially when he rides through town on his special mini-skateboard built by Mireles. Mireles, who doesn’t have any children, says he’s devastated because Gordo was like a child to him. The incident was reported to Baldwin Park police, but they say it will be difficult to find the bird since animals are often stolen to become pets in other households or to be sold. Gordo is not used to strangers, Mireles says, and will likely start biting his birdnapper.
Although Gordo is worth about $5,000, ‘it’s not about the money, it’s just the companionship,’ Mirales told the Whittier Daily News. ‘I almost died about two years back and he helped me.’ When Mirales was hit by a truck, exercise was part of his rehabilitation regime, prompting him to fashion the skateboard Gordo has become famous for riding.
--Lindsay Barnett