OCEAN CITY — A Washington, D.C. area family is seeking the local community’s help in locating a beloved pet bird that got away during a vacation stay in Ocean City last weekend.
Sandy Collado and her family spent Easter weekend in Ocean City at the Plaza condominium uptown in high-rise row along their beloved pet cockatiel Milo. According to Collado, Milo goes everywhere with the family including vacation trips to the beach, but on the family’s last day in Ocean City, the cockatiel flew away from their condo and has not been seen since.
“We were in Ocean City last weekend for a little vacation and it was during our last day that our pet cockatiel Milo flew away,” said Collado. “We bring her everywhere and she rarely stays in a cage. She just kind of hangs around with us but she flew away. We were staying at the Plaza and she flew toward English Towers. Her wings aren’t clipped, so she can fly high and far.”
The family called to the intrepid bird and went down to the beach hoping she had landed somewhere and could be found. When word spread about the missing bird, many on the beach on a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon joined in the search to no avail. The Collado family continued to search into the evening hours before they had to get ready to pack up and leave.
“We searched for over seven hours hoping to find her, but we were not able to and we had to come home with our hearts broken,” she said. “We are not giving up on her though. When she gets scared, she would probably hide somewhere, but once she gets over that fear, we feel pretty certain she would seek out somebody because she is very comfortable around people.”
Collado said Milo was frightened and lost, but the cockatiel would likely seek out humans for food and companionship. Throughout the week, the Collados have been posting pictures of Milo and her story on social media platforms and fliers about the missing bird have been posted around the resort.
“She is very smart and she would go around people,” she said. “Our hope is that somebody might have found her and taken her in. She does have a band on her, so if somebody found her, they would be able to contact us. We also reached out to Animal Control and every shelter in and around Ocean City hoping somebody has found her and turned her in somewhere.”
Meanwhile, the family plans to resume the search this weekend.
“We’re going to come back to Ocean City this weekend and continue to search,” she said. “She means that much to us and we are just heartbroken over losing her.”
Anyone who might have seen Milo or taken her in is urged to contact Sandy Collado at 240-706-0454.
