Infamous swearing parrots pull crowds in Britain

DW (English)

The UK's biggest parrot sanctuary is home to over 1,000 birds. And some have learned coarse language from their former owners. That is drawing visitors from across the world.

Transcript

00:00Happy birthday to you!

00:06With this jolly jingle and a warm welcome,

00:09you'd be forgiven for thinking these colourful creatures are the stars of this wildlife sanctuary on England's east coast.

00:16But look a little further and you'll find the real VIPs.

00:21These parrots can squawk some of the saltiest swear words this side of the seven seas,

00:26persecuting visitors and staff alike.

00:31I heard that.

00:33As I'm walking past, I might hear a parrot say,

00:36are you a fat bee?

00:38And you think, that's not really good, I don't really want that.

00:41And then one will just tell you to F off.

00:43But then when you walk past and somebody uses a C word or something like that,

00:47and you think, oh my lord, that is a bit too much.

00:50They're swearing has shot these parrots to international stardom.

00:55With fans flocking to hear England's famous foul-mouthed birds.

01:01Love you!

01:03I'm not offended, sorry, don't bother me at all.

01:06You're not offended either are you?

01:08No, not easily offended.

01:10To be honest, when they're mixing with the other parrots,

01:13I think they'll probably just stop swearing with a bit of luck and be like parrots should be.

01:18Oh, behave yourself.

01:20Thankfully the staff are just as entertained as the visitors.

01:24You can never tell them not to because we laugh too much at it.

01:27The public love it as well.

01:29When they come up and the parrots are talking to them and they tell them to go somewhere,

01:34the laughs that you get, you can hear them across the park.

01:37Which is just, it's really nice to hear.

01:39Blame lies with five particularly profane parrots.

01:43Sanctuary CEO Steve took them in from private homes during the Covid pandemic.

01:48To his surprise, all five could swear.

01:51Concerned they'd ruffle a few feathers, Steve hatched a plan.

01:54We integrated them to a bigger group of parrots.

01:58And most parrots, they learn all the common noises like vehicles reversing or microwaves,

02:03or you can hear like telephone noises.

02:05And the general idea was if these rogue parrots heard more of the common noises,

02:12they'd stop using the swear words.

02:14It didn't really work.

02:16There was one or two of them that picked up the swear words.

02:19These highly intelligent African greys are quick learners.

02:23And with another sound now picking up steam, Steve has a new problem on his hands.

02:30People teach them farting noises.

02:33And they do it at the most inopportune times.

02:36And I can hear them.

02:38And they'll do everything from a very short noise to a really long noise.

02:41Then his head starts bobbing.

02:43And he starts laughing himself and walks away.

02:45And you think, oh no, not another one.

02:46So between swearing and farting, I don't know if it's a good place to bring your kids.

02:52To Steve's relief, the parrots across the sanctuary are still PG.

02:58They're yet to pick up the profanities.

03:01But they do hear their naughty neighbours are very funny.

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