Boy's feathery friend leaves family all a flutter

When a Christchurch family’s pet budgie escaped from its cage, they thought they would never see him again.

That is until a neighbour, a few doors down, found him waiting patiently on her doorstep and returned him home.

Margaret Young, of Hoon Hay, was cleaning Smudge the budgie’s cage when she turned away for a few moments and he was gone.

“It was all panic because he belongs to my grandson who lives with us,” Young said.

“He’s Kadin’s emotional support budgie, put it that way.”

Young moved to Christchurch from Queenstown with her grandson Kadin and partner in December, with Smudge acting as a comfort to Kadin through the move.

“They’re very attached to each other, he sleeps next to Kadin’s bed,” Young said.

As soon as Smudge had taken off, Young took to Facebook, in the hope someone from the community had seen him.

While a lot of people commented on the post, saying they hope Smudge is found, Young thought it was unlikely they would see him again.

“There’s dogs round the back of us so I thought if he’d gone through the back, the dogs would have eaten him,” she said.

However, it was only a couple of hours before Young received a message from Tanya Swart, who lived on the same street, saying she had found Smudge on her front doorstep.

Swart was relieved that she got to Smudge before her cats did, and put him in a cat cage before returning Smudge home safe and sound.

Young described receiving the message as a “great relief” and said Kadin was especially pleased to be reunited with his friend.

“There was great excitement in the house, I can tell you,” Young said.