Rowdy parrot given behaviour training (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Rowdy parrot given behaviour training

11:53am Thursday 3rd August 2006 in Swindon

OWNERS of Blue, the squawking parrot, are hoping they have done enough to quieten their pet down and save him from eviction.

The Hanks family, of Roebuck Close, Wootton Bassett, were on the verge of having him seized after neighbours complained to North Wiltshire District Council about his noisy behaviour.

However, Shelley Hanks, 37, said they had taken measures to cut down on the macaw's cries.

"I've had a parrot trainer out and she's helping me with him to try and calm him down," she said.

"I will tell him I'm going out, then give him ten seconds and walk back in the room so he knows I'm going to come back.

"He used to go outside, but now I just keep him in, so I'm trying to get the noise levels down.

"We have got him indoors now, so hopefully they won't complain about the noise. When you close the doors you can't hear him.

"The council hasn't got back to me yet."

Mrs Hanks said she, her husband Anthony and sons Thomas, 11, and Marcus, four, had fallen in love with the bird since getting him eight weeks ago.

"We are very attached to him," she said. "He calls me mum and gives me kisses and he's like a baby.

"The boys have got very attached to him. When I said to Thomas we might have to get rid of him, he said there was no way and he told me he would chain himself to the cage if he had to."

Mrs Hanks' mother Gloria Mutlow of Middle Ground, Cricklade, said: "I wouldn't want to think of him having to be put to sleep."