ASHLAND – Louie is outgoing and affectionate. He loves being the center of attention. When he is not playing with Nash the dog, he enjoys riding his skateboard.
Louie is a sun conure parrot. He went missing over two months ago.
His owner, Debbie Dingus, has not stopped searching for him. And to her surprise, members of The Ashland Chatter Facebook group have not either.
Dingus lost Louie on June 19 when she came home after being away for several hours to let out her dog Nash. Louie flies free in the house, except for at night when he is put in his cage. On this occasion, he flew onto the back of Dingus’ sweatshirt.
She did not realize he was there, and when she brought Nash outside, Louie flew off down Union Street.
Dingus located Louie in a tree on Union Street where he stayed for hours. The Ashland City Fire Department came to rescue him and Louie excitedly started climbing down the tree. But when the firefighters got close, Louie was scared by their gloves and flew off.
He has been missing since.
Dingus took four and a half days off work to search for him. During that time, she posted about Louie’s escape in The Ashland Chatter and asked if anyone had found him.
That first post received 322 likes and almost 50 comments. People flooded the comments with suggestions on how to find Louie, prayers for his return and to say they too were out looking for him.
Since that first post, Dingus’ Facebook Messenger has been full with potential leads and people displaying their efforts to find Louie. Dingus’ updates to the Facebook group continue to garner hundreds of likes and dozens of comments.
“63 days later, people have not forgotten Louie,” Dingus said.
But the support was not just digital. People were out searching for Louie, and many still are.
Dingus said she was stopped by kids riding their bikes telling her their grandmother sent them out searching for Louie. Others have spotted her walking and joined her to call out for Louie.
Lisa J. Dewiel drove around Ashland playing a video of Louie’s chirps that she got from one of Dingus’ Facebook posts.
Kristy Heimberger painted a picture of Louie that now hangs in Dingus’ office, above where Louie’s cage used to be.
Once, a van drove past Dingus’ house with children in the backseat calling for Louie.
Dingus said a realtor in the Akron area offered to put up reward money for anyone who finds Louie. The woman was a stranger and she was not the only one to offer money.
Liberty Crank printed colored “missing bird” fliers to hang around town. Some nearby businesses hung them up inside.
“I wanted to help her because I myself am an animal lover,” Crank said. “If I lost my dogs or cats, I would lose my mind.”
Crank also made Dingus a custom tumbler cup with pictures of Louie on it.
“She was a stranger. I had no clue who she was, and she reached out to me and helped support me,” Dingus said.
The cage now sits open outside with food, waiting for Louie’s return.
A national bird hunt
Dingus said she has called vets across the state and local pet stores. So far, she has received leads of missing sun conures from Michigan, Tennessee, Maryland and more.
“That Tennessee one though, I really thought that one was Louie. That was probably my biggest letdown of them all, really,” Dingus said.
Despite the hundreds of unsuccessful leads, Dingus said she has faith that Louie is alive somewhere.
Dr. Jamie Lindstrom, a veterinarian at Animal Clinic Northview in North Ridgeville, Ohio, said it’s possible. He specializes in avian and exotic animal medicine. He said lost birds often find a local food source, such as a bird feeder.
Escaped birds are seeking help, he said. They get desperate and will fly to humans because they recognize them as food sources.
And it is possible for escaped birds to survive in the wild, Dr. Lindstrom said. In his 40 years of practice, he has seen and heard miracle stories about birds that were gone for months that were eventually located and returned to their owners.
Dingus holds onto hope.
“That was my bird, and I’ll do everything to get my bird back until I am told he’s deceased,” Dingus said.