White-fronted Amazon parrots can mimic 30 to 40 sounds, and Pepper’s former owner warned that the bird was likely to unload a bawdry blue streak when the mood hit him, said shelter director Amy Lewis.
Right away, Lewis knew exactly how she’d rise to the challenge of finding a new family for Pepper.
“If you think Pepper’s feathers are colorful, you should hear his language,” Lewis wrote on Facebook on June 15, announcing the shelter had a “potty-mouthed parrot” up for adoption.
“Bringing home a cursing conure might seem like a fun idea until Pepper offends grandma’s Tuesday night knitting group,” she continued.
The post went on: “On the bright side, if you want to keep unannounced company from dropping in, adopt Pepper. They’ll think twice after being cussed out by your new foul-mouthed feathered friend.”
Lewis then advised that only people with experience caring for birds should apply.
“Give us a call if you want to add a spicey Pepper to your life!” she wrote. “Somebody get this guy a bar of soap or a humor-loving home!”
More than 400 applications poured in, Lewis said.
“We had adoption offers from all over the country,” she said, noting that applicants included a Texas saloon owner named Wild Bill and a former Navy sailor who said he had a vocabulary to rival Pepper’s.
“It seemed like everyone wanted a cursing parrot,” Lewis said.
Both bird lovers and lovers of salty language flooded her Facebook post with comments.
“My grandma is about to be 81 years old and swears all the time,” wrote one person.
“Can we have a video of Pepper cussing?!? I can’t be the only one who wants to see this!!” wrote another.
“If I had a cage, pepper and I would be bff’s,” wrote a third, using shorthand for “best friends forever.”
Lewis and her staff spent three weeks studying the applications and narrowed them to 10 before deciding that Tiffany Turner, a special-education teacher from Olean, N.Y., was the best choice for Pepper.
Turner and her fiancé, Tim Sage, already had another cursing bird at home — an African grey parrot named Shelby.
“They had a lot of knowledge about parrots, and their home is like a regular truck stop with another swearing bird,” Lewis said. “It seemed like a perfect fit.”
She said she was also impressed that Turner acknowledged the challenges of caring for parrots in her application.
White-fronted Amazon parrots live an average of 40 years but with proper care can live into their 60s, 70s and beyond, she said.
“Pepper is in his mid-20s,” Lewis said. “Tiffany said [she and Tim] were in their 30s and would be able to age with Pepper. That told me they were prepared and had put some thought into applying.”
On Friday, shelter staffers drove Pepper two hours to his new home in Olean. Turner said she and the bird connected right away.
“He’s really sweet, and he seems to love women,” she said. “I could tell he was definitely a ladies’ man.”
She said she is slowly introducing Pepper to Shelby and has high hopes that they’ll soon be having lively conversations.
“Shelby is also foul, so we’re happy to have another swear bird,” Turner said.
So far, she’s heard only one curse word from Pepper, but she said she has a hunch there will be more.
“He’s a very vocal and loud bird,” she said. “He’s also very excitable. When my mother came up and visited, he fanned out his feathers and did a little dance with a butt wiggle.”
Turner said she learned about Pepper after her mother-in-law passed along the Niagara shelter’s adoption post.
“We’d wanted another parrot for years, but we didn’t want a young one because they live for so long,” she said. “When we heard about Pepper, we thought he’d be perfect.”
Once Pepper is accustomed to being outside his cage, he’ll be allowed to roam freely around the house for 6 to 12 hours a day like Shelby, Turner said.
“They get lots of fresh fruits and veggies every day, and we have a living room upstairs where they each have their own window to look out at our bird feeders and free-range chickens,” she said.
“Pepper is really intelligent, so he should soon be adding some new words to his diverse vocabulary,” Turner added. “It’s probably a good thing that we don’t have kids.”
