African grey parrot turns up at Ascot lost property

THEY are more used to dealing with mislaid wallets and the odd umbrella.

So when lost property officials were confronted with an African grey parrot yesterday, they might have been forgiven for getting in a flap.

But despite describing it as ‘the weirdest thing that has been handed in, ever,’ the staff at Royal Ascot remained remarkably unruffled.

‘We don’t know how it got here,’ said one official, who asked not to be named.

‘It has probably just flown in, but it is the weirdest thing we’ve had.’

The injured parrot was found at the course by a kitchen worker, who presented it to lost property in a shoe box.

Bizarrely, it was the second bird to be handed in this week. The official said a smaller one, its species unknown, had also been delivered using the same method.

She added: ‘I had a bird the other day, in a shoe box, and now I’ve got a parrot.

‘The guy from the kitchen came in and said: “I’m just going to leave it here”, and I said: “No, you’re blooming not”.’

She added that the parrot had been placed in a quiet, dark room while a vet was summoned. It has what is believed to be an identification tag on its wing. But if its owner cannot be located, the staff member who found it has volunteered to take it home as a pet.