Zoobot club members at H-F received comfort and reassurance after their macaw named Blue was returned. 

Club sponsor Chris Stiglic claims that a student had Blue for the weekend and took the macaw outside but it was a windy day so Blue took off with the wind. The macaw took flight in the club member’s backyard and was seen in Country Club Hills.  It was returned to the Flossmoor Police Station on Oct. 1.

Blue’s wings are clipped, but they are not clipped low enough. There is a risk of Blue falling and breaking his legs if his wings are not clipped low enough. For those who don’t know what wing clipping is, wing clipping is the process of trimming a bird’s primary wing feathers or remiges so that it is not fully flight-capable, until it molts, sheds the cut feathers, and grows new ones, according to vcahospital.com. 

They plan on limiting Blue’s outside time to make sure something like this does not happen again. 

When Blue first went missing the school sent out a post asking if someone found a missing bird.  They got a few leads but nothing concrete. Channel 2 CBS saw the post and wanted to run a segment on Blue. 

After it aired on the news Blue was returned anonymously. Stiglic claimed, “It’s hard to hide a blue macaw when the missing bird is all over the news.” 

 In an interview that principal Clinton Alexander conducted with CBS News, he stated, “Blue is family, and we need Blue back.”

In the animal-based club, club members are allowed to take home animals to learn how to take care of them and provide for them. It allows the members to interact with the animals outside of school. 

 However, as this situation has proved, taking animals home is a huge responsibility, and unfortunate and unpredictable situations like this can happen as a result. The club members are excited to have Blue back and can’t wait to start getting active with Blue again.