Cool Pets Award: Willie the Parrot Saves Child!

From Denny: Time to create a new category called the Cool Pets Award. Found this while searching for something else. You can always run across cool articles while researching so I thought I'd share!

Isn't it interesting how this little bird probably only knew a few words - and yet - he knew exactly which two words would get his message out.


Parrot warns owner girl choking on food

DENVER (AP) - A parrot whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast has been honored as a hero.

Willie, a Quaker parrot, has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award.

In November, Willie's owner, Megan Howard, was baby-sitting for a toddler. Howard left the room and the little girl, Hannah, started to choke on her breakfast. Willie repeatedly yelled "Mama, baby" and flapped his wings, and Howard returned in time to find the girl already turning blue. Howard saved Hannah by performing the Heimlich maneuver but said Willie "is the real hero."

"The part where she turned blue is always when my heart drops no matter how many times I've heard it," Hannah's mother, Samantha Kuusk, told KCNC-TV. "My heart drops in my stomach and I get all teary eyed."

Willie got his award during a "Breakfast of Champions" event Friday attended by Gov. Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Story from the AP as carried on the SunJournal.com
Photo by CBS4Denver