Owner of Prospect Park parrots speaks out after bird 'shot from sky'

Missy was shot with an air-rifle, vets suspect, breaking a bone in her wing and causing her to fall to her death outside Prospect Park, where she first learnt to fly.

Owner Adam, 34, from Tilehurst, who did not wish to give his last name, said it feels like he has lost a child.

“We’re all devastated. We’ve lost animals before like dogs or cats but it definitely wasn’t the same because having a parrot is like having a kid.

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“We’ve hand-raised them, they have the intelligent brain of a five to seven-year-old, they’re always needy, obviously they’re talkative, so it’s different than when we’ve lost other pets.

Adam and one of his macaws (Image: .)

Adam and his brother found Missy dead in Water Road on September 20, near the green space where she and her companion Cairo became affectionately known as the Prospect Park Parrots.

This is the first time the pair, who were raised together, have been separated since they first met as chicks five years ago.

Without Missy, Cairo has become depressed and struggles to try and find her in their old haunts like Little Heath.

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“The minute I got to the park he started screaming and calling her. He thinks she’s there because he doesn’t understand that she’s gone, which is heartbreaking,” said Adam.

“He’s not really himself. He doesn’t really fly now, whereas he used to travel 20 plus miles a day.

“He has his moments when he’s cheerful, but then when he comes back home he’s whining, he wants to look for her – he’s searching in each room.”

The ‘shooting’ occurred opposite between 3pm and 4.20pm, said Adam, who is appealing for information.

“Someone must know something.

“Everyone knows them as the Prospect Park Parrots so for them to be shot just outside Prospect Park where they first learnt to fly is shocking.”