Celeb Pawrents: Host-actor Thavanesan Sivananthan says ‘fate’ brought lost pet parrot back to him

SINGAPORE – Host-actor Thavanesan Sivananthan never knew he could be emotionally attached to an animal until a bird joined his family in 2022.

“My sister’s friend asked if we could help look after a parrot she had found, and when we had to return it, my family and I were in tears,” says the 33-year-old actor-host. “We had it for only about six days.” 

The Singaporean, known for his spot-on mimicry of popular Indian actors such as Rajinikanth and Ajith Kumar, says he had never seen his parents – his father, in particular – get that emotional. 

“I guess the four of us got used to a new family member within that short period,” says Thavanesan. He was one of the hosts of Pradhana Vizha 2025 in February, Mediacorp’s annual awards show that celebrates the best of Singapore’s Indian entertainment.

Only his younger sister had demonstrated a love for animals growing up. “We never had any pets or talked about wanting to have pets, so it was amazing how we took to the little bird so well,” he says.

The star of Vasantham drama Tik Tik Tik (2024 to 2025) adds that the mood at home was sombre for a while. They were contemplating buying the bird back when the owner contacted them and offered to sell it to them.  

So in April 2022, Thavanesan and his family officially became owners of Berri, a female crimson-bellied conure, a species of parakeet that is part of the parrot family.

“It felt fated that Berri entered our lives. Her previous bird-mum and my mum even share the same name, just spelt differently,” says the social media personality, who has over 114,000 followers on Instagram.

His feathered sibling will turn five in November and is quite a diva, adds Thavanesan. “She loves people and knows how to get their attention.”

While her species is not known to be talkers, Berri will “perch on us and chirp, telling us she wants to be part of our conversation”, he says.

Berri’s diet consist of vegetables, fruit and bird pellets. “She is quite a foodie and can be fussy. She won’t eat fruit that is not sweet,” he adds.

Berri is let out of her cage for several hours in the morning, and then at night before bedtime. The family takes her out for walks – in a small cage – on the weekends. “She knows it is time to go out when she sees us holding her smaller cage,” says Thavanesan.

When Berri flew away

The family went through a frantic period in early 2024, when Berri flew out of their flat one January night.

“I was heading home after a shoot and received a call from my mum, telling me Berri was gone,” says Thavanesan.

“Our windows and doors are usually closed when Berri is released from her cage. But that night, a toilet window was ajar and something must have spooked Berri, thus she flew out,” he adds.

He says: “It was a mad search. It was dark and we didn’t know how to search and where to go.”

Over the next few days, the family put up notices around their HDB flat in Sengkang and on social media, offering a $500 reward to anyone who found the bird.

“We covered Compassvale, Rivervale, Anchorvale, everywhere we could think of,” he says.

They were so desperate to find Berri that they even fell for a scam.

“We went to an animal communicator, who said he could locate Berri for us. We were then quite overwrought that we couldn’t think straight,” says Thavanesan, adding that they paid a couple of hundred dollars to the person who sent them on a wild goose chase.

Four months passed and the family was losing hope of locating Berri. They also knew it would be difficult for a domesticated bird to survive on its own outside.

Then in May, Thavanesan received a call from a stranger saying he had found Berri. He was hopeful yet sceptical, as he had received several similar phone calls because of the reward, but decided to meet the person anyway.

Reunited at last

It turned out that Berri had been rescued by “an old uncle” months ago, and he had been asking who had lost a bird.

“He had no access to social media and did not see the posters,” Thavanesan says. “The young man who called me happened to be one of the people the uncle approached. Miraculously, the young man recalled seeing our post on social media.”

He adds that Berri was found about an LRT stop from their home.

“She was probably tired, thus she perched on the uncle’s shoulder. Because she was not afraid of humans, the uncle knew she must be someone’s pet,” Thavanesan says. He adds that he asked the young man to pass the reward to the uncle.

“About four days before we were reunited with Berri, I was asked on a Vasantham talk show what happiness means to me. And I said it was to have Berri back in our lives,” says Thavanesan.

“Believe what you want. It is truly fate that brought Berri and us together.”