Rated-R parrot goes viral, up for adoption in Fall River

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WJAR) — A "rated-R parrot" with a potty mouth that's up for adoption has gone viral, as dozens of people have applied to be his next forever home.

Two months ago, Chantelle Roger's, an administrative assistant at Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Fall River, said they received a blue and gold macaw.

“He was an owner surrender through animal control, we aren’t sure if the details surrounding the surrender, considering the supplies or lack there of that he came in with, we’re thinking it was financial difficulties," said Rogers.

The bird, which is believed to be about age 30, had been with its previous owner for at least 20 years.

His species can live up to 100 years old in captivity if they're cared for properly.

“He was being fed human cereal, white bread, animal crackers, sunflower seeds, that’s why he’s missing most of his feathers he wasn’t getting any of the minerals none of the vitamins nothing that he needed," said Rogers. “We’ve definitely seen him come out of his shell. When he first came here he was terrified.”

According to Rogers, one night a few weeks ago, the staff realized the bird had quite the vocabulary.

“It was very quiet in the shelter for once, there was nobody in the room with him, everybody was up front, and we just heard him start cussing up a storm. We’re not sure if he wasn’t getting the attention he wanted and that was his way of asking for attention," said Rogers. “Then from there, as he gets more comfortable he starts saying more. He’s saying it louder, he’s starting to say more words, make more noises, the more comfortable he gets the more conversational he gets."

Rogers named him Hendrix.

Quickly, she learned the bird is not only colorful, but so is his mouth.

He mumbles curse words to himself, and sometimes shouts them out too.

“Sometimes when you give him something he’ll say thank you. If you call him a pretty bird, he’ll say thank you. He’ll say, 'good morning baby' that’s as far as the niceties go," she said. “The rest of it is slurs, cusses, things I can’t repeat on camera. We don’t want to react because we don’t want to encourage it but there’s times we have to leave the room to laugh. Kind of like when a little kid does something they’re not supposed to do, but it’s funny, but you don’t want to encourage the behavior so you turn and laugh, that’s kind of what we do.”

Rogers said since Hendrix has become more comfortable, he's been more relaxed.

His feathers are starting to grow in, and he's doing better health wise, so she made an honest post on the shelter's Facebook page seeking a new home, and it went viral.

It read the following;

"Hendrix is up for adoption! And definitely not for the faint of heart. Hendrix came to us as an owner surrender. We don't know much but we do know that they had him for about twenty years. When he came to us, he was being fed a diet of human cereal, white bread, sunflower seeds, and animal crackers...hence the lack of feathers.

He did see a vet and it was determined his nudity is most likely due to a lack of proper nutrition. While he's still mostly naked, there's definitely some new feathers coming in and he's covered in brand new fuzzy baby feathers so he's on the mend. He loves fresh fruit, dried banana, and peanuts the most. The thing is, if you adopt Hendrix, you're basically adopting Samuel L. Jackson. This bird's language is not for the faint of heart. One day he will call you baby and the next day he's calling you a...hmm. MFer I guess is the politest way to type it out. He says thank you when you give him snacks but will also tell you to shut up.

He uses "what the hell?" in the correct context. This bird is rated R, parental advisory required, a real sour patch kid if one side was sugar and the other side was arsenic. When he says "cracker", we're not sure if he's using it as an insult or if he's asking for an actual cracker. He'll be all sweet and affectionate and then turn around and call you a slur. (Yes. A slur. No, we're not kidding.)But we love him and he dances to music so we forgive him.

Hendrix will NOT come with his cage so you must have an appropriate cage set up for him. He will come with some bags of food/snacks/etc. The adoption fee for him would be $300. We are requiring large bird experience. No apartments because he is loud and explicit. No kids because he is loud and explicit. Also, we have been calling him a him because that is what the owners referred to him as but we are unsure if bloodwork was ever actually done. To apply, visit foreverpaws.com and click adopt to download the application. You can use the cat application. Once complete, you can email it to us at fpas1@foreverpaws.com or fax it to us at 508-677-9175."

“It was both a warning and trying to get people in to see him. He’s an interesting character but he’s not for everybody and that’s what I was trying to get across," she said. “We didn’t want someone to bring him home and suddenly he starts throwing slurs around and you had no idea you were getting into this.”

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The post, which has garnered thousands of interactions and comments, has taken off.

It's been shared all around the world with hundreds of comments of people interested or making light of the situation.

"We’re getting applications from Kansas, emails from people in Canada that want to adopt him," said Rogers. “We’re going through applications right now, we want to make sure people have the right setup, vet references, that they know what they’re signing up for and getting into especially considering he’s most likely considered special needs."

Rogers said at this time they have closed the adoption submission.

They've received over 50 applications.

“We want to see who he has the best interaction with, the best fit, we will have multiple families come in an meet him. We want to let him choose his people," said Rogers. “We’ve closed it for now, that doesn’t mean we won’t reopen it again. If we don’t find his forever family in this first round, we will reopen them again.”