Pet Parrot Goes Missing, Comes Home Four Years Later Speaking Spanish

When Darren Chick lost his pet African Grey Parrot Nigel, he never thought he’d see him again. Fortunately, a diligent veterinarian reunited the bird with his long-lost owner. Only there was a small problem; Nigel, who took after his owner and spoke with a proper English accent, came home speaking Spanish.

Nigel showed up at the home of Julissa Sperling, who owns a dog grooming business in Torrance, California, according to The Daily Breeze.

“I heard somebody whistling and saying, ‘Hello? Hello?’ I opened the door and went out — nothing.”

When she heard the noises again, she went outside and spotted the parrot. She put the bird in a cage and took it to work with her.

“I own a dog-grooming business so we put him in a little cage and brought him with us to the store. He was the happiest bird. He was singing and talking without control…. He was barking like the dogs. I’m from Panama and he was saying, ‘What happened?’ in Spanish.”

Eventually, she brought the African grey parrot to veterinarian Teresa Micco, who was running ads for her own missing African grey parrot, Benjamin. Unfortunately for Micco, the Spanish-speaking bird wasn’t hers, but she did her due diligence and eventually found out that the bird belonged to Mr. Chick, thanks to the help of pet-shop owner Tomi Takemoto. Unable to reach Mr. Chick by phone, she showed up at his home with the bird.

The reunion brought tears to Mr. Chick’s eyes – Nigel had been missing for four years – but Nigel wasn’t as thrilled as his owner; according to Mr. Chick, Nigel bit him. Takemoto says that that sort of thing is common, but eventually Nigel will get used to being around his old owner again.

There is one major problem, however: the parrot, which spoke with a refined English accent like his owner when he went missing, has come home speaking Panamanian-accented Spanish. He keeps mentioning the name “Larry,” likes to say “no problema,” and has developed a taste for Salsa music, bobbing his head and dancing when it comes on TV, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

As of this post, it’s not known what happened to Nigel while he was gone. If you live in Southern California and happen to know a Panamanian Spanish-speaker and Salsa lover named Larry who had an African grey parrot for a while, perhaps you can help us flesh out this story by letting us know in the Comments below.

[Image courtesy of: KUSA (Denver)]