A US fireman who lost his power of speech in a traffic accident has been taught to speak again by parrots.
Brian Wilson, from Damascus, Maryland, suffered life-threatening injuries in the accidnet 14 years ago. He also lost his ability to speak.
But he now claims that the chatter of pet parrots confounded the bleak outlook of doctors, who were convinced that he would spend the rest of his life in bed at a nursing home.
“Two birds taught me to talk again,” he said. “I had such a bad head injury I was never supposed to talk any more than a two-year-old.”
But two of the birds that he had had as pets since he was a child “just kept talking to me and talking to me”. ”Then all of a sudden, a word popped out, then two, then more.”
To show his gratitude to the birds who helped him on the path to rehabilitation, Mr Wilson has devoted his life to feathered pets whose owners are no longer able or want to keep them.
Telegraph (Thanks Katherine)
That’s really amazing. I think it represents a great relationship between man and animal (i think bird would be the wrong word in that sentence). What a lovely ending to the story – that he would take in the birds. aaah.
That is really cool. He taught them to speak, and then they taught him again. Pets can be really good friends.
What a beautiful story!
But my God, 80 parrots? It’s a good job the houses are big over there.
That’s an awful lot of squawking…
He probably does not really live with them, no human can cope with that … 1 or 2 going of is already something that hurts your inside massive at time .. however hard you try to shield yourself ..
A very nice story indeed, birds can get to you for sure .. the real you …
He was already loving parrots, now he had another reason to devote his life to them, although he probably preferred at times it to be different. (Parrots) Shelters are not always uplifting places .. no matter how good they are being take care of, the stories in the back .. life .. circles.
I myself get triggered by all those who got dumped as well .. but cant afford to do much about them right now. Have to take good care of my own animal friends at home. Maybe once in the future, but then with an enormous space for them to fly as well, if possible. Makes them more healthy and at times less depressed. Boosts their bodies and their selfesteem.
awww thats nice
aww, another reason i love birds <3
Screaming Green Conure… Could you get most of your vocabulary from your parrots?
Also wouldn’t this leave you with a bit of a limited vocab… Imagine turning up for work and screeching “Who’s a pretty boy then” or “Polly wanna Cracker”. Especially tricky if you work for the emergency services…
Flapjack, you have made me laugh yet again. That emergency services image is going to be with me for some time.
Flapjack, it’s worse than that. The tiel did teach me to whistle, but when it comes to talking I’d be kind of limited to cheerfully shouting their names and “STEP UP STEP UP GOOD BOY CLEVER BOY NEVERMORE NIGHT NIGHT COME ON THERE YOU GO” for hours on end. On the other hand, some of my coworkers might consider than an improvement from my current vocabulary which pretty much consists of birds, juggling and whatever I last watched on TV because I am impressionable like that.
One of mine has also enthusiastically torn the L key off my laptop keyboard and. I am typing with the silicon cap. The other woke me up early with high-pitched screeching and wailing. This guy has a nice pair of parrots. Mine tag-team me.
And speaking of parrots and the emergency services:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6357667.stm
Not only did this family’s cockatoo save their lives, it morphed in a B&G macaw for the press. Heartwarming.
lol wicked, just eavesdropping on the flapjack/sceamnggreenconure conversation!
But i do think the parrot in the pic is more interested in this man’s ‘tache! Maybe he hid his crackers in there…
That bird’s going to have that man’s eye out if he isn’t careful, never mind the awesome tache…
LOL – SGC! “STEP UP STEP UP GOOD BOY CLEVER BOY NEVERMORE NIGHT NIGHT COME ON THERE YOU GO”
I think that’s a fundraising idea for comic relief right there… try an entire day of just using your parrot’s vocab to communicate with co-workers!
Flapjack, you are not going to believe this but I am actually on the lookout for fundraising ideas for a parrot rescue and educational outreach thing that is just starting locally and is currently working on registering as an official charity. I’m serious. I want to run a half marathon for them, but that’s a really clever idea.
SGC – Go for it… save yourself some energy plus it’s a whole lot funnier than running for miles. Unless you run for miles in a parrot suit while quoting your parrots, that is!
Or re-enact the famous Monty Python sketch involving parrots…while dressed as the Norwegian blue! The choice is yours.