The heartbreak “parrot-hostage drama” playing out in the aftermath of a grisly murder in Alcalar seems at last to be coming to an end.
“Nappers” Gilly and Siegmar Fischer have agreed to give up the bird, in exchange for money.
It is not a ransom as such, as the African grey was originally put in the Fischer’s “safekeeping” five months ago after the body of their neighbour 72-year-old British grandmother Brenda Davidson was found buried under concrete in her back garden.
As Gilly Fischer told the Resident today: “We had pigs, dogs, cats, chickens, birds, the lot to deal with then, as there was no one else to look after them.”
Police, consular authorities, the municipal vet and animal associations stepped in, and within very little time the Fischers were left holding just the parrot.
And that’s when things started unravelling.
Brenda’s youngest son Dean, who has been sorting out his dead mother’s affairs, claims the Fischers have “refused to give the bird back”, while the Fischers’ story is that they were “waiting for the papers” proving the bird’s ownership.
Today however, the tide seems to have turned.
Gilly Fischer told us she and her husband were “fed up with the whole thing” and would gladly hand the parrot over, “paper or no papers”.
“There are some bills to pay, of course,” she explained. “My husband originally suggested €2 a day, but we have settled on €10 a week, with another €40 for bird food – which is expensive, you know.”
As to efforts made by municipal vet Dr Osvaldo to contact the Fischers for the past month to try to sort out the situation, Mrs Fischer said she knew nothing about them.
“We are out a lot,” she told us. “Thus whoever comes to collect the parrot, must give us notice.”
It was a breakthrough conversation – if not the usual kind of hostage negotiations – considering Dean Davidson told us he was ready to go to a lawyer to get his mother’s bird back.
We now wait to see what happens next.
The plan, as far as the Resident is aware, is for Brenda’s best friend and former neighbour Júlia Freitas to take the bird as papers are prepared for its safe passage to England.
As for the daily eight hours of company required, Dean tells us this is certainly assured. “My kids can’t wait! They’ve been through the mill with what happened to my mum. They just want to give a good home to her parrot.”
Photo: library image
