Unexpected Find in Drug Bust: a Lookout Parrot

Stool pigeons tell the police about criminals; parrots tell criminals about the police—or at least there's one that supposedly does in South America. Reaction online to a report out of Brazil's Piaui state is ranging from admiration to incredulity. There, police in the community of Vila Irma Dulce raided a drug den Monday and took into custody what one local reporter tells the Guardian was a "super-obedient creature": a loyal parrot that allegedly called out "Mum, the police!" as authorities closed in on its apparent owners. "He must have been trained for this," one cop noted. "As soon as the police got close he started shouting."

The "non-cooperating" parrot's proclivity for loose lips halted, however, once it had been detained. "So far it hasn't made a sound ... completely silent," a reporter observed. A local broadcaster notes the bellowing bird was handed over to a nearby zoo, and that it will be released into the wild after three months of flying instruction. The Guardian notes animals are an increasingly used tool in Brazil by criminals in the drug trade, though reptiles like alligators seem to be more their preference than mouthy birds. (In Colombia, a police dog had a big bounty put on its head by a drug gang.)