A cruising pet galah has been reunited with her family, two weeks after she went missing from her cage and flew away on a luxury cruise to New Zealand.
The heartbroken Cozzi family launched a Facebook appeal to locate their lost pet bird but had all but given up hope when they ironically went on their own cruise.
Harri the bird meanwhile, was enjoying the time of her life on a cruise on the Sea Princess where she was given her own identity card and suite on the ship.
Pet galah Harri, eight, flew away and gave the owners the shock of their lives
The exciting moment cruise ship crew return Harri to Michelle Cozzi and family
A miracle was in store for Michelle and Brett Cozzi, who received the beautiful news Harri had been found while on-board their ship.
The family looked absolutely elated on Sunday as they collected the pet when the Sea Princess arrived back in Brisbane.
A microchip and leg ring on the bird was a saving grace for the Cozzi family.
When crew members on the ship spotted Harri enjoying the sun on the cruise ship three days after it left Australia, they notified biosecruity officials who identified the pet.
After being cleared in a veterinary test, Harri, the eight-year-old galah, was cleared and reunited with the owners.
‘She’s definitely an integrated part of our family and we were all very very sad when she flew away,’ Ms Cozzi told Seven News.
Harri enjoyed her own cabin on the Sea Princess cruise ship travelling to New Zealand
Agriculture department animal biosecurity head Jacki South said Harri had her own cabin and was regularly checked on by New Zealand officials everytime the ship docked at a new port.
‘On return to Australia she passed a veterinary examination, and has now been returned to her owners, who themselves have just returned from a cruise,’ Ms South said on Sunday.
‘Perhaps Harri felt she too needed a holiday, but Australia and New Zealand treat biosecurity very seriously, especially in regards to foreign species.’
Galahs are native only to Australia.