A FAMILY had all but given-up hope of ever seeing their much-loved parrot again when two The Bolton News readers stepped in to save the day.

As reported, Ziggi the African grey parrot, flew off from its home in Wigan Road when owner Adrian Briggs forgot the bird was on his shoulder when letting the dogs out on Thursday, July 20.

After days of searching and putting up posters around the Hunger Hill area, Mr Briggs and his family had started to lose hope of ever seeing Ziggi again.

Last Thursday, a story ran in The Bolton News about Ziggi and how his family were offering a reward for any information to get him back.

That same morning Mr Briggs received a phone call from a couple in Worsley who told him that they thought they had found Ziggi.

On Sunday, July 23, the man was working in the garage when Ziggi flew in and landed on the man's head before flying back out again.

Ziggi flew back into the garage and landed on the man's shoulder, who managed to closed the door and trap Ziggi inside.

The couple originally thought Ziggi could be an African grey that was stolen from Dunn's Garden and Pet Centre in Ashton so contacted them and the owner came out.

When the owner arrived, he realised that the bird was not his but took it off the couple's hands anyway as they could not continue to take care of it.

On Thursday morning, the couple saw the article in The Bolton News and contacted Mr Briggs to tell him that they thought they had his bird but they had now given it away.

Mr Briggs, who has three teenage children, contacted Steve Dunn of Dunn's Garden and Pet Centre and that evening went to Ashton to see if it was Ziggi.

When he was there, Mr Briggs compared the tag to Ziggi's identification number and thankfully it was a match.

Mr Briggs said: "We were over the moon. We were delighted to get him back.

"We thought there was no chance we were going to see him again and somebody else had him or whatever.

"Ziggi is delighted to be home. When we got him home he went back into his cage straight away and he was flying round the room and he went on me and he went on the kids."

Mr Briggs said that while the appeal was shared on social media, it was the newspaper article that eventually helped get Ziggi home from his adventure.

The couple whose garage Ziggi flew into live in Harbourne Avenue in Worsley, around seven miles from where the Briggs live.

Mr Briggs said: "He spent three days out there. It was stormy and everything that weekend, it was really winding and raining."

The couple that Ziggi flew to refused to accept any reward for returning him home.

Mr Briggs, aged 43, said:

"They just said it was good to have the chance to have him for a few days and that he was back home with us.

"We got their address and sent them a card and some flowers and we are going to give the rest to charity."