Cockatoo returns home after being stolen from wildlife reserve

A beloved Upper Hutt cockatoo known for her "hello darling" catchphrase is home, after being stolen from Staglands Wildlife Reserve a week ago.

Pepper, the six-year-old sulphur crested cockatoo was taken from her aviary on Sunday 17 November.

After public pleas for sightings of their precious parrot, Staglands posted the "most amazing news" on Facebook that Pepper had been returned on Friday night.

It turns out Pepper had been purchased - and the new 'owners' only realised they had bought her when the story of her birdnapping aired on 1 News.

"A young man and his father bought the bird from an unknown man in Porirua, but they alerted police after realising Pepper was actually hot property," police said.

The cockatoo was dropped off to the Porirua Police Station, and Constable Tushar, on his first day on the front line, took care of her until her keepers arrived, they said.

Police want to hear from anyone who knows how Pepper came to be in Porirua.

Speaking to RNZ's Afternoons on Thursday, Staglands general manager Sarah Purdy said she had no idea why someone would take Pepper - but anyone with the right knowledge of birds, and the right timing, could have hidden her in their clothing and snuck her out.

All Staglands wanted was their bird back, and they would not press charges, she said.

Pepper, who Purdy described as loving and gentle, had lived at Staglands for the last four years, and was hand-reared - so she bonded with people rather than other birds.

"Everyone knows her very well and is very fond of her."