Coast Guard rescues cockatoo, man from tree

So, have you heard the one about the guy who went chasing his prized pet bird, got stuck 60 feet up in a pine tree and had to be rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter? Good story — and it happened right here. The bird was Geronimo, an Umbrella Cockatoo; the tree was in Porter; and the man was William Hart, a roofer. Hart said Geronimo flew out the window of his house around 4 p.m. yesterday and perched high in a tree, so Hart gave chase, climbing up a nearby tree and then swinging over to the tree where Geronimo was sitting. He eventually made his way to the bird, but then came to a disheartening realization: It would be really hard to climb back down. "I was kind of handicapped with just one arm, having to hold onto the bird," Hart told KHOU. "So I just hollered down for [some family members] to call for help."

The family realized they couldn't do anything, so they called Porter firefighters, who showed up around 5 p.m. and realized that recent rains had left the ground too soft for them to pull a ladder truck up alongside the tree. So the firefighters called the HPD water rescue team, which dispatched a helicopter that tried to lower a harness to Hart — no luck. "I could see already that the rope was too short," Hart told KPRC. "At least 20 foot or better, and they tried their best. I give my gratitude to them." Around 7:15 p.m., rescuers decided to call in a Coast Guard team, which arrived by helicopter and sent a rescue diver down to retrieve Hart and Geronimo. Hart didn't seem too perturbed by the fact that he had to wait in the top of a tree for four hours or so: "I talked to [Geronimo], played with him and smoked a cigarette," he said.

Hart has owned the 6-year-old Geronimo since the bird was six months old, and he said the rescue effort was well worth it. Of course, that isn't really his concern: The taxpayers, not Hart, will end up footing the bill for the rescue, which could run well into the tens of thousands of dollars (the Porter fire department's failed rescue effort cost between $5,000 and $10,000, the Coast Guard expedition cost around $10,500, and it's not clear how much the incident cost HPD or the Houston or The Woodlands fire departments, which were also on the scene). What would happen if Hart ended up getting the bill? "I guess I would have to go ahead and pay it," he said.