COOKEVILLE -- Have you seen Sammie? Sheriff's deputies are looking for her. In fact, her story is being sent across the nation by Internet.

She's an African Gray parrot, and she talks, saying, "What? What?" Sometimes she also produces the sound of barking dogs or the electronic whirr of a microwave oven.

Sammie is the pet of Evelyn Soto of Plunk Whitson Road, and she has been missing since early May, according to a report by Putnam Sheriff's Deputy Chris Brown, who is an animal control officer. The owner said the bird flew out of the house on May 3 while someone had the door open. From there, it was a series of mishaps which sealed her fate.

"First, she got spooked and flew outside and landed on the deck rail," Soto said. "Then a dog barked, and she flew from the rail down the slope of the yard. Just then, the wind blew and carried her along, even though she has clipped wings."

Looking for their beloved pet has taken the Sotos far and near, and has even brought them another pet bird, though no new bird can take the place of Sammie, who has been with the family since they bought her about a year ago from a breeder in Florida when she was just a baby.

"We went looking for her right after she flew out that day, following where we thought she went," said Soto. "We searched fields in the Pippin Road area and over toward the Hyder Burks building. We took her cage and put it out. We took her toys and called out to her."

Because the bird might have been spotted near the Hyder Burks building, Soto put up a flier at Tennessee Tech about her missing pet. She soon received word that someone had seen a bird like that near the Fitness Center on campus and the report was that a person "picked it up."

Sammie, who is gray, has some white on her chest, and has a red tail, is valued at between $1,500 and $2,000, but it's not her monetary value that makes the Sotos search so hard for her.

"She's like my baby," said Soto, who is a registered nurse. "She spent most of her time on my shoulder."

The Sotos' search for their missing pet recently took them to Chattanooga, where someone who had seen one of the Soto fliers about Sammie thought the bird had been found there.

"This woman in Chattanooga had found a Tinmeh bird, which is similar, except it is dark gray and has a burgundy tail," Soto said. "We went down there, and though it wasn't Sammie, the woman who found the bird didn't know how to care for it and begged me to take it, so now I have that bird and am looking for its mama."

Soto also recently found where someone is advertising a parrot for sale on the Local Sales Network web site, and she fears it may be Sammie. She has tried to contact the seller.

"She is afraid the bird will be sold before she gets it back," says Deputy Brown's report. And if someone has the bird and knows the owner is looking for it, that might just be considered theft, which is how the deputy titled his report.

If you see Sammie, call Deputy Brown at the Sheriff's Dept. at (931) 528-8484.
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