Swearing Parrots At Zoo Berate Guests With 'Fowl' Language
To paraphrase the old adage, it turns out birds of a effing feather actually do flock together. Five newly adopted parrots at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in England were temporarily removed from public view after squawking profanity at guests, ruffling feathers among visitors and staff alike. The flock of five birds arrived at the park, which is already home to 1,500 parrots on August 18 and were quarantined together in the same room.
Yet after a few days, it was clear these five birdies had one passion in common: cussing all day every day, according to local publication, Lincolnshire Live. Zookeeper Jess Newton told the BBC that while working with the parrots was entertaining, her team hoped the flock would "kick the habit" by the time they were set to interact with the public.
"For the last 25 years, we have always taken in parrots that have sometimes had a bit of blue language and we have really got used to that Every now and then you'll get one that swears and it's always funny. We always find it very comical when they do swear at you," park chief executive Steve Nichols said. Considering that parrots will often say and do things to elicit reactions, this wasn't exactly a recipe for success. "The more they swear the more you usually laugh which then triggers them to swear again," Nichols added.
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"We found it highly amusing and the customers were fine -- they were no problem at all. But we worried because we had a weekend coming up and children coming," Nichols said of the incident. While the birds have since been separated, they're not out of the woods - er, aviary - yet. "I'm hoping they learn different words within colonies - but if they teach the others bad language and I end up with 250 swearing birds, I don't know what we'll do," Nichols said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that visiting a zoo with 250 swearing birds sounds like an absolutely fantastic time.
As much as I would love to judge those birds, looking down on them for now knowing how FOWL language doesn't FLY, I cant -- I, too, have come out of a quarantine spewing obscenities. 2020, folks!
When she's not writing about cursing birds, Carly can be found on Instagram @HuntressThompson and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
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