Monk parrot causing a holy row

THE Guardian newspaper in Britain recently reported on a row that has broken out over the future of a thrush-sized bird introduced from South America.

Monk parakeets, brought in as pets, escaped to the wild during the 1990s and are breeding in the south east of England. There are none in Ireland, but if you visit the Canary Islands keep an eye out for a colourful and noisy bird; monk parakeets have established there.

The parakeets are a loose family of small- to medium-sized parrots with long tails. Seed and fruit eaters, they are not friends of the farmer. However, pilfering is not the worst crime of the monk parakeet. It stands accused, believe it or not, of disrupting electricity supplies. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is taking no chances. It wants all monks to be captured and returned to their cells before numbers increase further and ‘the genie gets out of the bottle’. Even more draconian control measures are envisaged, including shooting and the destruction of nests.