Mrs Fiegert began the weekly clean of the six foot by five foot cage, shortly before 8am on Saturday.

The 90 year old took a few minutes to realise the nine month-old bird had played with the padlock hanging on the cage and had locked it closed, with the key inside.

“I was busy and I heard George rattling around, I took no notice until when I looked up, I saw both of us were trapped,” she said.

Mrs Fiegert spent more than half an hour locked inside her cockatoo’s cage on Saturday morning, yelling out in vain for her neighbours.

Mrs Fiegert said during the ordeal her cockatoo Georgie kept on saying “Georgie’s a good boy, Georgie wants a kiss”.

But it was her ‘Call Direct’ pendant hanging around her neck that led to her rescue.

The pendant puts an alert through to the nearest ambulance service, prompting paramedics to attend.

“I am so lucky, I only got the ‘Call Direct’ ambulance alert pendent on Friday afternoon, without it I would have never been found,” she said.

Call Direct marketing manager Kerry Wordley said Call Direct was ideal for elderly people living on their own, whether fit and healthy or infirm.

“It gives them a sense of security and enables them to stay in their home longer,” she said.

“Families can trust that someone will respond quickly if their elderly parent experiences difficulty.”

Mrs Fiegert said being locked in the cage had never happened before.

“And from now on I will make sure it never happens again,” she said.