Sold parrot returns - as a crisp

A man sold his parrot after growing fed up with her foul mouth, only for her to return a few days later - in a bag of cheese and onion crisps.

Thomas Sleigh and his wife Michaela, of Stockport, Greater Manchester, decided to get rid of Molly when her swearing got too much for the family.
But within days of the naughty African Grey being sold her image turned up as Mr Sleigh tucked into a bag of crisps.
"It's almost like Molly has come back to haunt us," he said.
He added: "We got rid of her because she was constantly trying to wind my wife up by throwing her food out of the cage as well as turning the air blue with her constant swearing.
"We made a decision we couldn't take her mouth any more and we sold her."
A few days later, Mr Sleigh opened a bag of Walkers crisps and found the four-inch crisp in the shape of a bird.


Can you spot the difference?

There is no photograph of Molly to compare the likeness, but Mr Sleigh thinks the crisp looks like the departed parrot.
"I have nicknamed it Chippy," he said.
"I must admit I was shocked when I saw the crisp and I was just laughing because it was like the parrot had come to re-visit us."
A spokesman for Walkers Foods said: "We've had all sorts of shapes and sizes of crisps over the years but a parrot is a world-first."
African Grey parrots, like other parrot species, are popular pets because of their intelligence and ability to mimic sounds and speech. They originate predominately from central Africa and have an average size of about 33cm (13ins) and lifespan of up to 60 years.

Wow FrEAKY

I wonder who taught the bird to swear?

That's funny. Kinda looks like a marshmallow peep to me.

Like Isaid to my wife yesterday, "You gotta be careful what you say in front of your kids."

They should of been more careful at what they did in front of the little feller.Almost all habits and talking of a parrot come more or less from what is going on around him.They should of blamed them selfs and try to reeducate the bird.
A parrot can be a reflection in the mirror..

This makes me so sad. It's a humorous story but those people should have tried to reduce their own swearing. My african grey stopped saying things his old owner was saying after about 6 months of owning him. And he was 13 when I got him. Getting rid of a bird because he swears is no excuse to put him through losing his bonded family and traumatizing him!

Well, Maeci,
It's just as well,hopefully this bird ended up in a home with someone like yourself. Someone who cares enough to help this little fellow get past the trauma and move on to a better life.I too have rehome birds, two female Macaws. One Military and one B&G. I got the Military when she was 5 and the B&G at 6yrs.They are both 7yrs old now and niether curses, but if I fuss at the B&G, she will tell me to "SHUT UP!"...well if thats the worst she has, I can live with it......we don't tell the birds to shut up...the dogs..that's another story all together

Hi David! Thanks for your compliments. Quality bird ownership is so important. Birds are not "fast food pets" and its good to be around people who realize this.

It does irk me that people do this. I can understand reasons such as health failure or things that are simply out of your own control...but for swearing?!

Ah well, time for me to get off my soap box I guess.

Your macaws sound hilarious! My African Grey can be a little bugger sometimes. He actually tells our dogs to "stop" when they get too close to his cage (and they listen most of the time), and he always tells me to "come here" when he's rather fussy. In his language, that's, "come here I wanna bite you!"

Too endearing!

HaHaHa..."come here"...I want to bite you So funny!!! With my two girls I pretty much know when I'm going to get it....normally if I don't put them to bed on time I will be reminded with a sharp pench to the forearm for my tardieness!!!

Yeap!! "Come here" followed by a prompt chomp is one of his fussy habits! normally he's not in a bad mood, thankfully.

Apparently his last owner's wife would try to chase him back into his cage. She could try to grab him, and say "come here". So of course, Psyche came up with the idea that "come here" was a part of the biting routine.

At least he warns you before he bites.

How late do you put your girls to bed?? I try to be consistent. Psyche doesn't seem to mind too much when I'm an hour or so off...