Cockatoo stolen from Ewa Beach home reunited with owner

Sneaky Pete, a citron-­crested cockatoo stolen from an Ewa Beach home Friday night, apparently winged it to freedom and was reunited with his elated owner Saturday.

Anita Buck said that while she and her husband were at The Eagles concert at Aloha Stadium, an unidentified culprit hopped the fence to their backyard, cut open the bird’s cage and made off with her beloved pet.

She discovered Sneaky Pete was missing when she went to bring the cockatoo inside about 1 a.m.

Buck suspects Sneaky Pete was taken because the birds are valuable and can sell for upwards of $1,000. The cockatoos generally are between 13 and 15 inches in length and routinely live up to 50 years in captivity.

“We’re shattered,” Buck said before learning a neighbor five houses down the street had found the bird. “That was our beloved pet.”

She said she had bought Sneaky Pete from an ad on Craigslist about a year ago and “just fell in love with him.” The bird, which is about 3 years old, has a sweet personality and likes to say “What are you doing?” in the tone of an old man, she said.

Buck, a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Kapi­olani Medical Center for Women &Children, said Sneaky Pete makes her laugh and helps her to relax from the stress of her job.

The neighbor who found the bird perched on her fence Saturday went to Craigs­list to post a “found” notice and spotted Buck’s post about her stolen cockatoo. She called the bird’s owner around 5 p.m. and they were soon reunited.

Buck, who was too excited to get the neighbor’s name, said she can’t be sure how Sneaky Pete managed to escape from his captor, but “my guess is he doesn’t like men, and his wings are unclipped so he can fly.

“It’s a very happy ending.”

Happy for Sneaky Pete, as well. Buck said that when she retrieved him, “he was so cute. As we were walking away he had his little foot out and was waving at them.”