Viral

This Cockatoo Tearing Up Anti-Bird Spikes Is An Example To Us All

A viral video filmed in Katoomba has shown a sulphur-crested cockatoo tearing up anti-bird spikes like Jesus flipping tables in the temple.

by Amanda Yeo  7 July 2019
Cockatoo bird. Photo by Vish K on Unsplash

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The world is an unjust place, full of billionaires, corporations, man-spreaders and “superfoods”. Many of us are pushed to the outskirts, forced to wander this hostile environment in search of safety and rest.

However, this week one hero took a stand. One hero saw the cruel boundaries, the structures built to keep them and those like them out, and they said back, “Screw that.”

In a video that went viral this week, a sulphur-crested cockatoo was recorded tearing up anti-bird spikes like Jesus flipping tables in the temple. The feathered vandal then drops the spikes several metres to the ground, at which point, in an Oscar-worthy moment of environmental storytelling, the camera pans to show a few dozen more uprooted segments.

The video was uploaded to Facebook on July 1 by Isaac Sherring-Tito, quickly spreading to Reddit and Twitter and gaining over eight million views combined. Speaking to Guardian Australia, Sherring-Tito stated that he filmed the bird at Town Centre Arcade, located on Katoomba Street in the Blue Mountains.

Since the clip went viral, more details have emerged about its anarchist star. It turns out that Comrade Cockatoo, as the avian has been dubbed by its new fans, is not unknown to Katoomba locals. The bird is accused of being a liar, thief and con-artist, with writer Stilgherrian claiming it once “tried to steal the shopping from [his] supermarket trolley”.

I can’t verify that the alleged grocery thief and anti-spike vandal are one and the same. I haven’t spent much time studying birds, and so have difficulty telling one sulphur-crested cockatoo from another. Further, this behaviour isn’t out of the ordinary for a cockatoo, who are generally just pliers with wings.

However, I have no problem believing it is the same bird. That sort of chaotic behaviour is absolutely on brand for the type of bold, lawless creature this cockatoo has proven itself to be. Fearing no earthly power, this bird spits at the concept of private property, tearing down the establishment one metal spike at a time. Only God can judge this cockatoo, and I think he’d probably approve.

Junkee was unable to get in contact with the bird for a response to these allegations.