Pet budgie survived vacuum cleaner ordeal

An eight-year old budgerigar (parakeet) survived a horrifying ordeal in a vacuum cleaner in Milton, Boston. Birdie, the pet of Marie Margarone, had crawled into the Shop-Vac wet/dry vacuum cleaner moments before Ms Margarone turned it on.

After turning it on, she quickly realized that her feathered friend had been whipped up into a “violent” frenzy inside the canister, breaking its wing and causing damage to its tiny body. A spokesman from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center said Margarone knew something was wrong when she saw feathers blow out of the vacuum’s exhaust.

Vets said Birdie “was bloodied, barely conscious, and unable to move” when she arrived at the animal hospital’s Emergency and Critical Care Unit, where two board-certified avian and exotic veterinarians, Dr Brendan Noonan and Dr Elisabeth Simone-Freilicher, worked diligently to bring the bird back from the brink of beyond. Over the course of an hour-long operation, doctors had to remove 25 percent of the bird’s wing, but they managed to get Birdie back on her bird feet and back to her owner the next day.

"Birdie has come a very long way since she sustained these injuries, I'm hugely impressed with this small bird's strength," said Dr Simone-Freilicher. Ms Margarone added: “She’s a member of my family just as my other pets are, and I wanted to do everything I could to help her. I’m thrilled to have her back in our home where she belongs, and obviously we’ll ensure she stays well clear of the vacuum from here on out.”