Swearing parrot fitted with false leg

George the parrot has not had a good night's sleep for 18 months, since he lost his leg when a wild animal attacked him in his aviary.

The African Grey parrot, who has usually has a very limited vocabulary, has even been heard to cry out `bloody hell' in frustration at balancing on one claw.



But an expert at the University of Salford fashioned George his own tiny prosthetic device. Dr Glyn Heath, of the university's School of Health Care Professions, is a specialist in creating prosthetics for animals but said this was the first time he had made one for a bird.

George nibbled it, he tossed it aside, he hung from the top of his cage and looked at it, and then ... he ate it.