MONTICELLO, Ind. — A woman whose home was swamped by Tuesday’s flooding says she’s thankful that neighbors saved her parrot, which nearly drowned after rescuers refused to let her bring the bird onto their boat.

Claudia Shown’s 6-month-old African grey parrot, Mo Jo, was eventually rescued Tuesday by two neighbors who found the bird trembling in its cage, half of which was under water.

“If they hadn’t got him, he would have drowned,” Shown said Friday.

She was preparing to leave her home Tuesday morning after Lake Freeman began flooding following torrential rains. She had readied Mo Jo as well, putting him in a small traveling cage, but when a rescue boat arrived, a rescuer wouldn’t let Shown take the bird with her.

“The rescue worker made me put him back in his big cage,” she said. For more details visit here