Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 19, 1994 TAG: 9405190078
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY WALKER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
From May 1 to May 4, Gizmo's whereabouts are unaccounted for. All that's known is that on May 1, a Sunday, Gizmo escaped from the home of Betsy Garst in the North Mill area of Salem. Three cold and rainy days later, she reappeared, minus a few feathers, at Erica Smith's home off Colonial Avenue in Roanoke County, more than five miles away as the cockatiel flies.
The Gizmo story began three years ago when Fairview Elementary in Northwest Roanoke became a magnet school for plants and animals. The yellow, gray and white bird was purchased from a pet store and brought to Fairview to serve as a subject for study, along with assorted lizards, snakes, rabbits, hamsters and fish.
Although a scientific subject, Gizmo quickly became a pet as well. The children fed her popcorn, cheese doodles, kale and Doritos, and taught her to whistle.
"She imitates human whistles, like when you call a dog, or a whistle like you do when a pretty girl goes by," said Garst, who teaches third grade. "Usually when the children talk to her, she responds with a whistle."
Often allowed to fly free inside during the day, Gizmo spent nights in a cage in Garst's room. On weekends, Garst took Gizmo home because cockatiels need daily feeding and watering.
While at home on May 1, Garst let Gizmo out of her cage. "She is smart enough to follow me," Garst said. "I left the room, and she went looking for me and found an open door. That led to the open garage, and she just took off."
Garst thinks Gizmo panicked when she saw open space. In any, case, the bird disappeared.
"We looked everywhere Sunday. It was about 1 o'clock, and we looked until dark. That night the temperature was supposed to drop down in the 40s. These are tropical birds, and they don't thrive in cold weather. We were told the next day when I called the pet store that she probably didn't live through the night since the temperature dropped so low. The next few days we had continued low temperatures so we didn't have any hope she survived."
When told of Gizmo's disappearance, some of the children cried. "I felt sad because I was afraid we would never see Gizmo ever again and a cat would get her," said Josh Fleisher, 9.
Nevertheless, the children did not give up. "They were so confident and optimistic the whole time," Garst said. "They cleaned her cage and put signs on her cage that said `Welcome home.' "
After school the children searched their neighborhoods. "I called her name and whistled and said `Here, Giz,' " recalled Latasha Smith, 8.
At the children's prompting, Garst ran a classified ad in the newspaper.
On May 4, Erica Smith, 11, and Wesley Hall, 10, spotted Gizmo near their homes on Woodland Drive, near Colonial Avenue Southwest.
Wesley "put a sweat shirt on the ground," and the bird walked right onto it, Erica said. Wesley then wrapped the bird up, and "we brought it over to my house and put it in a box."
Erica's mother, Christine Smith, saw the ad for the missing cockatiel in the newspaper and called Garst. Garst was doubtful that Gizmo could have survived, but went to Smith's house anyway.
"As soon as that bird saw me, she bent her head over to her feet and waited for me to scratch her, so I knew it was her," Garst said.
Gizmo was slightly the worse for wear. "We think something might have gotten after her because she had some feathers missing and a little bit of blood," Garst said.
After being checked by a veterinarian, Gizmo was reunited with the children at Fairview. "They were needless to say thrilled," Garst said.
Further excitement ensued when a newspaper reporter and photographer visited the school to interview the children and photograph the feathered celebrity.
Perching on Garst's shoulder, Gizmo preened and fluffed. "She's making sure she's pretty for the camera," Garst said.
"Gizmo, you're embarrassing me, you're so bad. Your feathers look fine."
It was a happy conclusion to the odyssey of Gizmo, the cockatiel who, in the words of 9-year-old Adam Ballard, had become "the most famous bird in school."
by CNB