Macaw saves man from robbers

A Fort Smith man says he survived an early morning home invasion on Monday thanks to his pet Macaw, Charlie. “He goes everywhere with me,” said owner, Jack Dukes. Dukes says the pet macaw saved his life.



Dukes says he let two men inside his Fort Smith apartment on Raleigh Street at around 2:35 a.m. on Monday, thinking one of them was a neighbour. “I figured that if it was him ringing my doorbell at that hour that something was wrong,” said Dukes, “First thing they did was hit me and it knocked me back across the table.”

Dukes says the men beat him and demanded hydrocodone pills. “We’re not sure how they knew him by name, but somehow they did,” said Cpl. Steven Dooly, of the Fort Smith Police Department. When one of the suspects grabbed Charlie, Dukes says the bird attacked. “He went to screaming and the bird went to screaming,” said Dukes. Instead of a guard dog, Charlie turned into a guard bird.


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Dukes says Charlie bit one of the suspects, and his beak took a chunk out of the man’s arm. “He said to the other guy, he said ‘let’s get the hell out of here,’ and they both headed out the door,” said Dukes. Dukes survived the alleged attack. When asked what if Charlie had not been there. Dukes said, “Well, they’d a probably come back and stomped me to death.”