'Stuntbird' deserves an Oscar!
2006-11-15 23:26
Johannesburg - An African grey parrot had an experience that would make a Survivor contestant blanch when he clung to the running-board of a bakkie as it weaved through high-speed morning traffic on the East Rand.
Four-year-old Oscar was determined not to be left behind when Elzebe Oosthuizen of Eloff near Sundra took the children to school, so he hopped aboard and clung to the running board for 19km, enduring high speed and splashing through several mud puddles.
After all, Oscar always goes along for the ride when Elzebe drives to her business near Delmas.
Elzebe said: "Because it was really wet and I had to take my husband, Janus, to the airport, I decided to leave Oscar at home."
Oscar had other ideas: there was no way he was staying at home with just the dogs for company, so he hopped onto the running-board.
But his usual morning jaunt turned into a feather-raising high-speed journey complete with mud puddles and close-ups of other vehicles.
Covered in mud
Only when Elzebe reached Hugenote High School in Springs, did a woman call her attention to "something on the driver's side running-board".
"I thought my dress was caught in the door, but when I opened it, I saw him standing on the grass," said Elzebe.
Oscar had alighted for a breather from his adventures, "full of mud, but very relieved to get into the vehicle," said Elzebe.
Oscar, who is a well-bred bird, did not use any foul language, but he may have had a couple of dark thoughts and he whistled incessantly about his death-defying experience, said Elzebe.
By Wednesday, all was forgiven and he was on his way to work with Elzebe as usual, sitting happily on her hand.
He was none the worse for wear, except perhaps for a dull mud patch on his left wing.
Oscar was too traumatised to speak to Beeld - or, perhaps, he had his own plans for a movie script?