Cisse's sick as a parrot
Sep 2 2005
EXCLUSIVE by Rob Devey, Chester Chronicle
An African Grey parrot of the type stolen
A PARROT ordered by football star Djibril Cisse was stolen from a pet shop.
Thieves snatched two African Grey parrots, each worth £600, from Line Star Tropicals in Tarvin between 6.30pm on Monday and 8.30am on Tuesday.
One was due to be delivered to Liverpool striker Cisse, who became Lord of The Manor of Frodsham after buying the town's £2m Ridge Manor House.
The other, named Golly Grey, was a treasured shop pet.
A wall was knocked through to gain access to the High Street shop after thieves scaled a neighbouring roof.
They forced an internal security door and cages before netting the birds and taking cash from the till and charity boxes.
The raid is the third at the shop in a year.
Owner Roger Dutton installed razor wire around the roof after thieves removed slates when snakes, lizards and tortoises worth around £2,000 were taken. A parrot was also stolen a year ago.
Mr Dutton, who believes the same gang may be responsible, is now introducing CCTV and adding razor wire to the vacant premises next door.
He said: 'They must have come with hammer and chisels and have taken a three foot square hole out of the wall.
'It looks as if they failed to get the cages through the hole so I imagine they put the parrots in a bag or a box. They would have been scared stiff.'
Shop manager Anne Craven said: 'This is heartbreaking - we were really attached to Golly Grey.
'After three years of hard work and devotion these people have probably stuffed it in a bag.'
Insp Phil Hodgson said: 'People tend to steal pedigree dogs but it is very unusual for animals like this to go missing.'
Anyone with information should contact Cheshire Constabulary on 01244 350000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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Let's hope the parrot is still alive. Otherwise it could star in a Monty Python scene.
- I'll tell you what's wrong with it, it's dead.
- No, no, it's only resting. Beautiful bird.
Etc.
