ROOK OF LOVE
Smitten bird rescuer lets it eat her food and sleep in her bedroom!
THEIR noisy cawing and their tendency to dig up crops and vegetable patches mean they are seen as a pest by many.
So a rook might not be the most obvious animal to become a beloved pet.
But when Helen Motteram saw one injured in the street, she decided to adopt it – naming him Russell Crow.
And the bird has now made his way to the top of the pecking order in his new home.
Mrs Motteram – a pet behaviourist by profession – shares food with the bird, lets him sleep in her bedroom and said he even gets jealous of her husband Tristan.
The 34-year-old, who also spent nearly £2,000 on an aviary in the garden, said Russell now ‘rules the roost’ in their home, adding: ‘Often he’ll just stare at my husband until he moves away.’
She admitted that the bird can also be very naughty, hiding items including credit cards and jewellery and destroying pictures on the walls – as well as demanding a lot of attention.
‘Rooks are very needy and they form very strong bonds, so he sees me as one of his own,’ Mrs Motteram said. ‘But they’ll only bond with one person at a time, so he does get jealous if I’m trying to watch TV with my husband – he’ll give me a nasty peck on my foot or come and sit on my shoulder.’
Because of his ‘separation issues’ she lets him sleep in her bedroom. Each night she shouts ‘bedtime’ and the bird hops up the stairs, or she’ll carry him if he’s being particularly demanding. He then set- tlestheof course.floor down – in aftera pilea goodnightof pillows kiss,on
Mrs Motteram, from Cheltenham, discovered the injured rook outside a Prezzo restaurant in the spa town a year ago.
‘I looked for his parents but he was all alone, so I took him to a rescue centre nearby,’ she said. But Mrs Motteram, who started rearing and releasing birds when she was eight, realised Russell would not be able to return to the wild because he is disabled. She explained: ‘He’s not like normal rooks – he was born with crooked feet, which meant he isn’t able to fly.’ So she decided to take him in herself. She said: ‘It’s a huge commitment – including all maintenance costs the aviary came to nearly £2,000 and I’m up at 4am most mornings cleaning it, which can take up to an hour.’ But Mrs Motteram said Russell has ‘completely changed her life’ and insisted her 31-year-old husband, who initially called her crazy for adopting the bird, also now ‘adores him’. Since the couple adopted Russell they have taken in two more rooks that live in their garden full-time, named George and Cheryl. Mrs Motteram said: ‘They’re both very tame. They came from rescue centres, but we’re hoping that eventually we’ll be able to release them.’
‘He gets jealous of my husband’