A man in Belleville, Illinois, who trekked into thick mud to save his pet parrot had to be rescued by firefighters after he also got stuck on Sunday, August 12.

Firefighters in Belleville were called to the city’s Bicentennial Park after a visitor heard the man calling for help. When crews arrived, they found the man trapped “several hundred feet into the mud with the parrot on his back,” according to Belleville Fire Chief Tom Pour.

“It was challenging because you couldn’t just walk out there and hoist him out. It was like quicksand,” he said. Firefighters hoisted the man out using multiple ladders on drier parts of the lake. It took around 15 minutes for him to be pulled out.

According to Pour, the man regularly bikes around Belleville with the parrot on his shoulder. Credit: Belleville Fire Department via Storyful