--- title: This Grandpa and Bird Were Reunited After His Car Was Stolen description: When his truck was stolen, this Australian grandpa mainly cared about its passenger: a rainbow lorikeet that was his beloved pet. canonical: https://time.com/5618302/grandpa-parakeet-reunited/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-01T17:03:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:23.351Z og:title: Thankfully This Grandpa and His Pet Rainbow Bird Have Been Reunited After 'Dolly' Was Stolen Along With His Car og:description: A tragedy was averted when the bird was discovered on the side of the road og:url: https://time.com/5618302/grandpa-parakeet-reunited/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Thankfully This Grandpa and His Pet Rainbow Bird Have Been Reunited After 'Dolly' Was Stolen Along With His Car twitter:description: A tragedy was averted when the bird was discovered on the side of the road twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Grandpa and His Pet Rainbow Bird 'Dolly' Reunite After She Was Stolen Along With His Car  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 1, 2019 5:03 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 1, 2019 5:03 PM UTC Getting your car stolen is never a pleasant experience. For one Australian grandpa, the scenario was made even worse by the fact that his beloved pet [rainbow lorikeet](https://www.thesprucepets.com/rainbow-lorikeets-as-pets-390849), Dolly, was taken along with the vehicle. The crisis was called out on [Reddit last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/c5hbkx/she%5Fhas%5Fgiven%5Fme%5Fpermission%5Fto%5Fpost%5Fhere%5Fthis/), where a user shared an Instagram post made by the grandpa’s granddaughter, who goes by Sophie Comrie on social media. “My nan and pops are traveling Australia, and their 2016 Ford Ranger was stolen last night,” the post explained. “His rainbow lorikeet which he’s \[sic\] had for 12 years was locked in the back canopy. Please keep an eye out for this bird, he doesn’t care about the car he just wants his bird back.” Rainbow lorikeets are medium-sized parrots and can live for as long as 30 years; they’re known for being friendly and bonding with their owners, which explains the grandpa’s affection for his pet bird. Reddit readers were naturally saddened by the story. But it has a happy ending: the bird was discovered and returned to its owner on the same day, according to Comrie’s comments on [her Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=656012583) and another Facebook update. Dolly had apparently been left on the side of a road in her cage not from where the car was stolen, and someone discovered her and returned her to a local pet shop. They then [called the grandpa](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2532805140097558&set=p.2532805140097558&type=3&theater), who was soon reunited with Dolly. Unfortunately, it seems his truck is a lost cause. But at least the pet has found her way back home; as Comrie noted, Dolly had her wings clipped, so would have been unable to fly away if released. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5618302/grandpa-parakeet-reunited/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5618302/grandpa-parakeet-reunited/"},"headline":"Grandpa and His Pet Rainbow Bird 'Dolly' Reunite After She Was Stolen Along With His Car","datePublished":"2019-07-01T17:03:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:59:23.351Z","description":"Dolly is back home with her owner","url":"https://time.com/5618302/grandpa-parakeet-reunited/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5618302/grandpa-parakeet-reunited/","name":"Grandpa and His Pet Rainbow Bird 'Dolly' Reunite After She Was Stolen Along With His Car"}}]}] ```