Gadget, a red-bellied parrot, hid deep inside Victoria Souza's blouse. When commanded, out he peeked. "He's being shy," said Souza, pulling out the bird, then stroking and kissing him.

The parrot nestles with Souza nearly around the clock — even in the shower and during naps, though at night it sleeps in a covered cage — and holds a special place in the heart of this Kailua woman, a diabetic.

As one of Hawai'i's few service animals of the feathered kind, this is one unusual bird. Gadget travels on the bus and on shopping trips with Souza, protecting her from mishaps connected to her condition.

The idea that a bird can provide medically recognized service does raise eyebrows as Souza and Gadget make public encounters. The question of what constitutes a service animal is a loaded one here and across the country, as authorities seek ways to keep the service animal menagerie from turning into a zoo.

"This little bird is an amazing animal," said Dr. Howard Keller, Souza's internist.

In his 40 years as a man of science, Keller had long considered himself a skeptic; but convinced that Gadget performs a health service for Souza, Keller has changed his mind about what constitutes a service animal.

Gadget has been trained so that whenever Souza's blood sugar spikes or drops precipitously, the bird goes a bit nutty. He nips at her, finds ways to irritate her, gets her attention by squawking — and that is enough to get her to check her insulin.

"What I've noticed is the relationship between these two is a wonderful one. Birds are smarter than I ever thought before," said Keller, adding that he's not sure if he'd be so quick to sign on if someone was using an animal for comfort.

The bird cues her in when she seems to be going off-kilter, Souza said. "He'll start walking back and forth on my chest, dit-dit-dit; I'll go test my sugar."

Keller suspects that Gadget somehow senses when Souza puts out diabetes-related signals, like an unusual aroma or change in breathing.

"I'm sure the bird picks up on something about a change of chemistry," Keller said. "... I don't know what the little thing is looking at it, but he knows."

TAKING HEAT

Souza has been called on to defend her use of a service bird. Service dogs are commonly accepted as capable of providing necessary services for people with disabilities, for example, but not so long ago, a service dog owner took great exception to Gadget, arguing that Souza gave service animal owners a bad name. "I just told him, 'God provides for all, and God bless you,'" she said.

One person who has heard it all is Susan Luehrs, whose Hawaii Fi-Do trains service dogs in Hale'iwa. Luehrs knows of miniature Shetland ponies used to help the blind, especially in farm areas; she can also tell of a pig who ran amok on an airplane.

She's all for animals who are trained to perform a service for people with disabilities, but ...

"There's a fine line between emotional companionship ... and physical assistance, like opening doors," Luehrs said.

She worries that it may become easy — perhaps too easy — to abuse the system, so pet owners might be tempted to claim their creature is a service animal to avoid an extra fee for transportation, or to skirt rules banning animals.

"Some have the audacity to make a jacket, say it's a service animal" when it isn't, said Luehrs, who backs the idea of a specific definition of service animal and standard regulation. "Nobody oversees it. ... We're hoping the law gets more specific."

KEEPING THE LEASH TAUT

Francine Wai of the state Disability and Communication Access Board said new rules are under consideration. Among these are some that could limit "wild, exotic and unusual" species as service animals.

"It's to mitigate confusion," Wai said.

Domestic animals are trainable, she said, and she's willing to concede that birds in some situations could be service animals.

"What we tell a lot of establishments is, 'Here are questions you can ask,' " she said.

And an animal has to be under control, Wai explained: "If the bird poops or eats food or flies off the shoulder, those are all reasons to say the animal is not behaving properly. Animals cannot be disruptive; they can't be causing a health or safety issue. Even if you bring a trained guide dog, you don't feed it scraps, and keep it under your control."

Wai knows of abuses, too — someone claimed to have a service dog that should be allowed in a public campsite, but then let it run around the grounds.

"That's just a fraudulent attempt to skirt the rule,"she said.

Souza takes a wider view of service animals. "Any animal can be a service animal if it helps (owners) prolong their life," she said.

While the Hawaiian Humane Society doesn't have a platform on service animals, community advocacy liaison Kawehi Yim noted that any creature that can help people with disabilities participate in everyday life is meeting a need. "We fully support the use of animals as service animals" as long as they meet the needs of people with disabilities, she said. "We do understand that everybody wants to have ... service animals, because of overarching rights under the ADA."

Yim's advice to animal lovers who want to advance the cause?

"Don't abuse it," she said.