Milo the dog and Cracker the rose-breasted cockatoo are an unlikely but adorable pair who have a sweet friendship. Their bond began when Milo’s family found the bird injured in an Australian park in 2020. Milo was instantly smitten, refusing to leave the bird’s side for days. Charlotte, Milo’s owner, said that the bird healed up naturally over time and showed no sign of leaving, despite having the door of the cage left open. Charlotte believes that Cracker learned to trust them and knew they were just trying to take care of him.
The bird, a galah cockatoo, is confident, crazy, loud, and bossy, but also loving and affectionate, especially towards Charlotte and Milo. Whenever Milo left Cracker’s sight, the bird would scream, and Milo would return to sit near him, becoming best friends. Milo was devastated when Cracker went missing, and after he was found 10 to 15 minutes away, a lost Galah handed in to a local vet. The two were happily reunited, and Charlotte decided to adopt Cracker officially, seeing as he wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild due to his wing injury.
Charlotte is writing a children’s book about the friendship between Milo and Cracker and shared that it has been a learning experience. She finds it amazing that two different species can learn to co-exist and love each other despite their differences, saying that “the world could learn a thing or two from them.”