LONDON - Chris Taylor, a 30-year-old British computer programmer, grew suspicious of his live-in girlfriend when his pet parrot began to imitate her saying, “I love you, Gary.”
Ziggy, an 8-year-old African gray parrot, would also make kissing noises whenever the name Gary was mentioned on TV and would mimic Collins saying, “Hiya, Gary,” every time she answered her mobile phone.
Confronted with the evidence, Collins admitted to a month-long affair with a coworker named Gary and moved out of their shared Leeds apartment that same night.
“I wasn’t sorry to see the back of Suzy after what she did, but it really broke my heart to let Ziggy go,” Taylor, 30, told the Times of London in its online edition Tuesday. “I love him to bits and I really miss having him around, but it was torture hearing him repeat that name over and over again.
“Ziggy was one in a million; he was a loyal friend, and I have no doubt he was looking out for me.”
Taylor said Ziggy, who was named after a David Bowie song, has found a new home thanks to a local parrot dealer.
Collins, 25, told the newspaper she was staying with friends and said she shed no tears for the tell-tale bird.
“I’m not proud of what I did but I’m sure Chris would be the first to admit we were having problems,” said Collins, a call-center worker. “We had spoken about splitting up several times and I think it was inevitable.”
She added: “I’m surprised to hear he’s got rid of that bloody bird; he spent more time talking to it than he did to me. I couldn’t stand Ziggy, and it looks now the feeling was mutual.”
