Rio, a pub parrot in Cardiff, has learned to swear and is now barring customers.
A parrot is causing trouble at a Cardiff pub by swearing at customers. Rio is a two-year-old Macaw from South America who lives at The Clifton Hotel. He shouts bad words at people.
The landlady has had Rio since he was a chick, and he learned swear words from the pub regulars. Now, he acts like a bouncer and tells customers “You’re barred!”.
Kerry Chapman owns the pub and said Rio greets people, then tells them to “f*** off.” He says much worse things too; he has even told people “You’re barred.” Kerry got Rio from a pet shop when he was only six weeks old.
She brought him to the pub two years ago. She said he used to be shy, but now, he has a bad mouth. Rio also grabs people’s hats and tears them up with his beak.
But, no one gets angry at him. In fact, people visit from all over to see Rio, and the regulars at the pub love him. Joe Relvas is a regular people call ‘The Parrot Man.’ He and Rio are good friends.
Joe said Rio loves him when he visits, but Rio gets jealous if Joe talks with others. Everyone in the neighborhood knows Rio. He is a lovely bird who sometimes greets Joe with “Wassup!”, then tells him to “f*ck off” too.
Larry Green is a long-time customer whose dog, Chaos, would stare at Rio, not knowing what Rio was. They didn’t get along at first, but now, they are okay. Larry told a funny story about Rio involving a regular named Tony who laughs a lot.
Rio hears Tony’s laugh and copies it. When Tony tells Rio to be quiet, Rio tells Tony to “f*** off”. Kerry might move to a new pub soon and might need to sell Rio, who is worth about £4,000.
She worries the new customers won’t like Rio. Despite the problems, she loves Rio, calling him a “stunning, amazing a**hole”.