THIEVES who stole a parrot which barks like a dog left another bird in his place.

The parrot was taken between 9am on Saturday and 9am yesterday from an aviary in the garden of a house in Llanasa.

The male African Grey parrot has a red tail and the owner, who asked not to be named, has appealed for his return.

“It’s very weird because they didn’t just nick the bird, they replaced it with another bird,” said the owner.

“When I looked in the cage I saw the African Grey had gone and there was a green parakeet in its place.

“It’s as if they’ve got fed up with the parakeet and swapped it for my African Grey parrot. It’s bonkers.

“If they had stolen it and left the cage door open I would have thought I’d forgotten to close the cage and it had got out.

“I can’t buy another one for less than £700 but it’s not about the money because I’ve had Charlie for 15 years.

“Whoever’s nicked him is going to be very disappointed because he’s not the friendliest of creatures.

“He says ‘hello’ but his most distinguishing feature is he imitates my neighbour’s yappy terrier across the way.

“He does bark a lot and it’s like a proper yappy bark, not like a German shepherd, and you can’t tell which is the dog and which is the parrot.

“I’ve often gone out to tell the dog off only to find the barking was coming from Charlie.

“We have reported it to the police so if someone has had a green parakeet in a cage and suddenly they’ve got a barking African Grey parrot then it’s going to stand out.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting reference RC1713 8496.