The young people of the Onsplekse care farm in Vinkel are devastated: their macaw Zazu is gone. They trained the blue-and-yellow parrot to fly freely in the open air. But something went wrong during one of the training sessions. Zazu flew away and never came back. “We miss the macaw very much,” 29-year-old Yony says sadly.
Five months ago Luuk Broos, the owner of the care farm, got ara Zazu. Since then, the young people of the care farm have been training and playing with the animal every day. “He is still very young, so we had to teach him to fly. We lured him out of his cage with nuts,” says Yony. “We did that inside, because outside he would immediately fly away.”
After four to five months of training, a parrot can go outside for the first time. The intention was that the animal would fly around the neighborhood and come back to the care farm on its own. “We went to practice for the first time to let Zazu fly free. That went wrong, because he was shocked by something,” says 11-year-old Bink. “He then flew to the neighbor’s garden and unfortunately did not return.”
“I get very emotional when I think about Zazu.”
The youngsters still can’t believe their macaw is gone. “It’s very sad. I get very emotional when I think about Zazu,” says Yony, looking at an empty outdoor cage. “I had a good relationship with the animal. He was very calm with me.”
Bink is also sad. “I am very sorry that he is gone. It wasn’t just a very beautiful animal. He also brought a bit of fun, because he could talk,” says Bink with a small smile.
“We may have released the macaw outside too early”
The parrot was last seen at camping De Rietschoof in Aalst, about thirty kilometers from the daytime activities in Vinkel. “We’ve seen pictures. Because of the colors and contours around his eyes, I’m one hundred percent sure it’s Zazu,” says owner Luuk.
Last weekend he and a number of young people drove to the campsite to look for their Zazu. Without success. It hurts him that they couldn’t find Zazu anymore.
“The youngsters were very attached to the parrot. But after a few months we had to take the risk of letting Zazu fly free,” says Luuk. “They trained the macaw well, so we expected it to come back. It may have been too early to let him go outside, but that’s of no use to us now.”
At the care farm they hope that parrot Zazu will be found and captured as soon as possible, because they miss him terribly.
