Parrot Owners Beware: The Curse of the Cursing Parrots

LONDON — A British zoo has had to separate five foul-mouthed African Grey parrots who keepers say were encouraging each other to swear.Billy, Eric, Tyson, Jade and Elsie joined Lincolnshire Wildlife Centre’s colony of 200 grey parrots in August, and soon revealed a penchant for blue language.”We are quite used to parrots swearing, but we’ve never had five at the same time,” said the zoo’s chief executive, Steve Nichols. “Most parrots clam up outside, but for somereason these five relish it.”Nichols said no visitors had complained about the parrots, and most found the situation funny.  “When a parrot tells tells you to ‘f– off’ it amuses people very highly,” he said Tuesday. “It’s brought a big smile to a really hard year.”