A foul-mouthed parrot has been banned from watching TV because he can't stop dropping the F-bomb after picking up bad language - from action films.
Louis the African Grey parrot often goes on 'rants' and 'starts shouting the F-word' around customers in the pub he lives in. Owner Andy Ashby, 50, says the five-and-a-half year old parrot is now that bad he's trying to stop the bad language by getting the bird to socialise with his punters rather than letting him watch TV.
And he's even had to put a note on his cage in his pub, the Nailmakers Arms in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, to warn others of the swearing and that he could bite them if they get too close. Andy said: "He will squeal and then say hello and come out with a couple of words.
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"But then he might just come out with the F-word just off spec. Then when he goes on a rant, he just starts shouting the F-word all the time so it just causes me trouble."
Andy says he is left red faced when customers come in and Louis starts swearing. And while he's tried to tell Louis off, he says 'the more you tell him, the worse he gets' and he just 'comes out with whatever he wants.'
He added: "It's quite funny actually but it is one of them things where you think that it's quite embarrassing. The more you tell him, the worse he gets. He just comes out with whatever he wants to come out with.
"So he'll say oi, or he'll chirp. He also makes camera noises, what sound like taking a picture on a mobile phone. Then when he goes on a sweary rant, he really goes off on one."
Andy adopted Louis from a home where he lived with a family who had a baby, so he used to copy the noises that the baby's toys would make. But when Andy got him, he let him watch a lot of action films and he eventually started picking up swear words from the characters in the movies.
Andy said: "He didn't really use to say any words, he just used to make noises because he lived in a house with people who had a baby so he used to copy the toys' noises. I had him upstairs and with the TV being on, he's picked up some of the films.
"In some of the films, there's some language in them so he's picked up some of the characters' words such as the F-word."
The pub landlord has now had to put a sign up warning people about his swearing but he hopes Louis' language will improve now he's not watching TV. Andy said: "We've had to put a sign up because he bites strangers. But because I'm classed as his dad, he doesn't bite me. Then we've had to put a sign up about the swearing to warn people. He's not watching TV now, he's watching customers so he should pick more stuff up. It will fade out. He will pick up new words now he’s downstairs. He will pick up different, less rude, words."
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