A fire officer tries to coax Jessie the parrot down off a roof in north London, but was treated to a torrent of expletives. Photo / Paul Wood / LFB
A fire officer tries to coax Jessie the parrot down off a roof in north London, but was treated to a torrent of expletives. Photo / Paul Wood / LFB
A stranded parrot turned the air blue when it verbally abused a crew of firefighters who had came to rescue it from a roof.
Officers from London Fire Brigade were called to rescue Jessie, a turquoise and yellow Macaw parrot, after she had spent three days stuck on the roof of a house in Edmonton, north London.
The animal had escaped from its home nearby and the RSPCA called in the emergency services on Monday morning, after they and Jessie's owners were unable to coax her down, the Telegraph reported.
LFB watch manager Chris Swallow, who attended the scene, said: "Jessie had been on the same roof for three days and there were concerns that she may be injured which is why she hadn't come down."
The fire crew quickly sent a volunteer up a ladder with a bowl of food and a fluffy white towel to rescue the bird, complete with instructions from the bird's owners to tell Jess "I love you" to encourage her to come down.
Jessie the Macaw parrot had spent three days languishing on the rooftop. Photo / Paul Wood / LFB
The efforts by Green Watch from Edmonton station to charm the misbehaving bird went smoothly at first, and she responded positively, telling her would-be rescuer that she loved him back.
But, Jessie soon launched a foul-mouthed tirade against the fire crew, telling the fighter fighters to "f*** off".
"We then discovered that she had a bit of a foul mouth and kept swearing, much to our amusement," said Mr Swallow.
Jessie and her unnamed owner also speak Turkish and Greek, so the crew also tried "telling her to 'come' in both those language" too.
Thankfully, it soon became apparent that Jessie was uninjured as she flew off to another roof and then to a tree before being renunited with her owner.
The LFB has repeatedly called on members of the public not to dial 999 when a pet becomes trapped, following a huge increase in the number of call outs.
"Jessie also speaks Turkish and Greek, so we tried telling her to 'come' in both those languages too." Photo / Paul Wood / LFB
A parrot not the most unusual animal the service has been called out for though, after it was called out to rescue an iguana from a roof in Tower Hamlets in May 2008 and a chimp trapped in a chimney in Tower Hamlets in January 2010.
Three months earlier, a crew had been called out to save a kitten which had wedged its head inside a bongo drum in Newham.
Last month Devon Fire and Rescue was criticized for dispatching 15 firefighters and two engines to a rescue a seagull on a church roof.
The bird flew off when the crews arrived at the church in Honiton, but the call-out was reported to have cost up to £1,000.
On Monday, the LFB called on members of the public only to emergency services to deal with trapped animals if the RSPCA had been unable to help.
"As with this incident, the RSPCA should be contacted in the first instance and we would always urge people to do the same if they see an animal stuck or in distress. If the RSPCA require our assistance, they will call us and we are happy to assist with our specialist equipment," said a spokesperson.
