ParrotQuest

By staff writers / December 18, 2008 04:10am

AUTHORITIES have reportedly rescued 1500 parakeets from a two-room apartment in Berlin.

Berlin veterinarian Margit Platzer says the birds were flying freely around the apartment, which was “littered with faeces, feathers and left-over food”, Associated Press has reported.

Ms Platzer says it took her team more than seven hours to catch all the birds.

The birds have been taken to animal shelters in Berlin and elsewhere because there was not enough room for them at facilities in the capital.

The owner gradually bought and bred the birds until his apartment was full, and that neighbours had complained about the noise and smell, Associated Press has reported.

The retired man has not been identified.

Across the other side of the globe, parakeets are also making headlines with the birds brightening up Britain’s dreary winter skies, in their thousands.

But the ring-necked parakeets are proving a pest for farmers, damaging fruit crops.

Seasonal traders, farmers, and orchard and vineyard owners have been watching on with frustration as the colourful birds gorge themselves on fruit and festive berries before Christmas.

Parks and gardens in leafy London suburbs are also being adopted as a preferred habitat by the birds that are native to southern Asia.

The rate of increase, helped by mild winters, is much greater than had been expected.