When his owner died, a sad parrot got melancholy and refused to speak. He has now rediscovered his voice and has a potty mouth.

When Jesse’s new owner tries to get him to stop swearing at him, he makes fart sounds and laughs at his own poor jokes.

Despite his rudeness, Rachel Leather of Aberdare, South Wales, has taken the bird under her wing and says she can’t picture life without him.

Jesse used to pluck his own feathers because he was so depressed, but they are now coming back.

To help the African Grey deal with his grief, the RSPCA’s Ashley Heath Animal Centre near Bournemouth in Dorset took him in.

He refused to speak except to bitterly murmur “goodbye” to staff, but now that Rachel has decided to take him home, he can’t stop his foul-mouthed outbursts.

The bird keeps telling new owner Rachel Leather to “f***k off,” which she finds very funny.

Rachel said: “Within 24 hours of being home he was nattering away to himself.

“He just makes us roar with laughter, he loves to make fart noises, make jokes and swear. His language is awful.”

Rachel’s partner calls her “Babe,” so the cheeky parrot cries “Babe” to gain her attention and then tells her to “f**k off.”

“When I tell Jesse that he’s funny he responds with ‘yes, f***ing hilarious’,” Rachel added.

“He also says ‘Jesse’s a good boy’ and then occasionally replaces that with ‘Jesse’s a good girl’ and laughs.

“He’s only been with us for a short time but I can’t imagine how we ever existed without him.

“When I became aware of Jesse I was blown away, it felt like the perfect opportunity.

“I was surprised at how chatty he became because the staff at the centre said he was really quiet and had only said one word – ‘goodbye’ – a few times.

“It’s heartbreaking to think that’s all he’d say after suffering such loss.”

“The team noticed one day that Jesse had plucked out some of the feathers on his chest and had made his skin red-raw,” Hannah Hawkins, behavior and welfare advisor at the RSPCA centre, said.

“We wondered if he was sick or had a skin issue that was making him uncomfortable but it soon became clear that it was grief and stress that was causing the plucking.

“He’d come into us after the death of his owner and we believe he’d been in the same home for his whole life and was much-loved so it’s not surprising he was struggling after such a sudden change.

“He seemed lonely and depressed after such a loss.”

She added: “We take in a lot of birds such as budgies, canaries, lovebirds and poultry, but we don’t see a huge number of larger parrots.

“We knew we needed to get Jesse into a home environment as quickly as possible to ease his stress.

“We made sure Jesse got lots of attention and additional enrichment to try to help him.”

Image Credit: Ashley Heath Animal Centre in Dorset

You were reading: Cheeky parrot who became mute after owner’s death finds his voice and huge potty mouth