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Denver: Hero parrot honored

Associated Press
Denver, CO Colorado
This undated image from video released by CBS4Denver, shows Megan Howard, holding Willie, a Quaker parrot in Denver, Colo., whose cries of alarm alerted her when a little girl she was baby-sitting choked on her breakfast. Willie has been has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award. (AP Photo/CBS4Denver.com) ** NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT **
AP | CBS4Denver.com

DENVER, Colorado ” A parrot whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast has been honored as a hero.

Willie, a Quaker parrot, has been given the local Red Cross chapter’s Animal Lifesaver Award.

In November, Willie’s owner, Megan Howard, was baby-sitting for a toddler. Howard left the room and the little girl, Hannah, started to choke on her breakfast.



Willie repeatedly yelled “Mama, baby” and flapped his wings, and Howard returned in time to find the girl already turning blue.

Howard saved Hannah by performing the Heimlich maneuver but said Willie “is the real hero.”

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“The part where she turned blue is always when my heart drops no matter how many times I’ve heard it,” Hannah’s mother, Samantha Kuusk, told KCNC-TV. “My heart drops in my stomach and I get all teary eyed.”

Willie got his award during a “Breakfast of Champions” event Friday attended by Gov. Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper.


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