Animals that were left for dead inside Pets’ Corner's abandoned shop are moved out to new homes

A BABY parrot who was abandoned in a locked up pet shop has found a new home – and this week squawked his first word.

But the chatty blue and gold macaw has yet to speak about the ordeal faced by starving creatures who were left in Pets’ Corner in Malden Road, Gospel Oak.

The New Journal revealed in May how animals had to be rescued by welfare teams from the after the store’s owners suddenly closed for business.

Passers-by heard pets locked in the basement whimpering for help and raised the alarm.

A rabbit and a turtle were found dead – but rescuers said this week that the survivors are making good recoveries.

The parrot has been named Ollie and sent to live in the Tropiquaria wildlife adventure park in  Taunton, Somerset.

Park manager Chris Moiser said: “Sometimes we cannot put the macaws in public because they are too foul-mouthed. 

“We had one that told a headteacher to go forth and multiply. But this one is so young, we don’t think it’s spoken before. It has just said, ‘hello’, and we are expecting more words to follow.”

He added: “At present, we are handling him several times a day and hope to be able to bring him out with the public during the summer. He seems very happy here.”

The talking parrot was one of dozens of Pets’ Corner animals to find new homes this week. The shop was shut after the council served an eviction notice on its owners for rent arrears. But the animals were left inside without food and water.

The shop had been given a clean bill of health by council inspectors in January and a licence to sell pets was awarded in March.

But inspectors from Mayhew Animals Home in Kensal Green said conditions were among the worst they had ever seen. The council said it is “actively considering” prosecutions.

Mr Moiser said the macaw appeared to have been “reared for the pet trade”, and that the birds could fetch as much as £1,000 on the black market. He added: “Sometimes macaws are hatched in incubators without knowledge of their parents to make them seem more human.”

A rabbit called Pipkin, which was found nuzzling up to his dead mother in a cage in the shop, was one of many taken in by the Mayhew centre – and is also  recovering well. 

A Mayhew spokeswoman said: “One of the mother rabbits who came from the pet shop – and her three babies – left today (Tuesday) to go and live in the country with one of the builders who works for The Mayhew. Those bunnies will have a wonderful life. Our head of animal welfare fell in love with the two chinchillas and adopted them.”

She said Pipkin would probably be sent to the “Rabbit Residence” rescue home in Hertfordshire as few people come forward to adopt rabbits.

In June, Camden Council officials said they could not release any information about licensing or responses to dozens of complaints about Pets’ Corner as they might jeopardise a potential prosecution.

A Town Hall spokesman said this week: “The council is giving active consideration to whether a prosecution should take place in relation to the conditions found at Pets’ ­Corner. If there is a ­legally robust case to be made then action will be taken.”

Published: 21st July, 2011
by TOM FOOT