Woman Behind Bars After Rare Bird Flies the Coop

A rare Central American scarlet macaw that failed to return from an excursion with a female companion has left its owner in tears and landed a Val Verde woman in jail.

The $3,000 bird, named Big Bird, was last seen Thursday when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Neal Hickerson went to a Val Verde house to check on a report that it was being kept there illegally, Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Burns said.

In fact, witnesses say they saw Aura Elizabeth Tapia, 32, lure the bird from a tree into her house with a tomato, deputies said. Sure enough, the bird roaming freely in Tapia’s bedroom fit the description of Big Bird perfectly--down to the two missing nails on its right foot. The bird had been missing since Jan. 11, when it failed to return to bird trainer Jay Kapac’s house from a flight with a female Mexican macaw named Lola.

But Tapia insisted the bird was hers and said her husband had documents that could prove it when he returned from work in Culver City, Burns said. Hickerson agreed to return later to check the documents, but when he came back Tapia was gone. And so was “Big Bird,” Burns said.

What happened next is unclear, but Kapac and sheriff’s deputies speculate the woman might have left the bird with friends or relatives in Val Verde, or her husband might have taken it to Culver City after returning home Thursday night.

When deputies returned to the house Friday night, they arrested Tapia on suspicion of misappropriation of found property, Burns said. She had not told deputies where they might find the bird, and detectives were expected to continue the investigation on Monday, Burns said.

Kapac said the bird’s owner, Kathleen Goss of Ventura, has been devastated by the loss of Big Bird.

“Kathleen is really emotionally distraught over the loss of this bird,” he said. “She knows I’m very good with birds and that’s why she trusted me.”

Kapac said the bird’s Jan. 11 flight was part of its flourishing courtship with Lola.

“It is a very intelligent, trained bird and was trained to fly and come back,” Kapac said. “It took a little flight with its girlfriend. They were flying all over the neighborhood. They were just landing from one tree to another, and apparently he landed in this one tree and she got separated and he never came back. Probably he was just curious.”

Kapac said he fears the bird was easily lured by Tapia because he has a weakness for women.

“It probably missed Kathy,” he said.