Escaped parrot flies into the lions' den at Longleat

A lost pet parrot was finally captured seconds from the jaws of death – after thinking he was back in Africa and landing in a lion enclosure. Naughty Lalji, a nine-year-old African Grey parrot, had managed to open the door of his cage in his owner, Pie Chambers’ garden in Corsley and escaped. But as hope was fading Mrs Chambers got a phone call she will never forget. It was Ian Turner, deputy head warden of Longleat to tell her that lalji had been found – surrounded by seven lionesses.

Mrs Chambers said she could not believe her ears when Mr Turner called to tell her the news. She said: “I was on my way to Longleat to drop off a poster when I got the call to say what had happened. I had a feeling he would have gone over that way and thought I would never see him again. It certainly was a shock when I was told the lengths the staff had gone to get him out of the lions’ reach.” The intrepid bird had flown above the lion enclosure and spotted the seven female lions with their keepers, before landing on a fence to take a closer look.



As the lionesses eyed him beadily, Lalji swooped around the enclosure before sitting stubbornly on the fence as a huge rescue operation swung into action. Concerned keepers rounded the pride up into a pen before trying to coax Lalji down with a long stick. Resident parrot expert, Jon Ovens, from Longleat’s Animal Adventure was then called in to help. Attempts to woo the parrot down using a resident female parrot failed and it wasn’t until Mr Ovens fetched a large net that the hapless parrot was plucked to safety and returned to his worried owner.

Mr Turner said: “I don’t know what possessed the parrot to land among the lions – they say that parrots are blessed with intelligence; I think I‘d question that with this one. We realised that we had to catch the bird before the lions did. It took eight people, four cars and over an hour for us to catch the bird safely in a net.” Mrs Chambers added: “He is exhausted, obviously traumatised and very quiet but I am absolutely delighted that I have got him back. It’s the fifth time he has done this and the last time, fingers crossed.”