Parrots have helped an American fireman speak again, after he had lost his power of speech following a traffic accident.
Brian Wilson from Damascus, Maryland, had lost his ability to speak after suffering life-threatening injuries in the accident 14 years ago. He revealed that doctors who saw him were convinced that he would spend the rest of his life in bed at a nursing home.
However, he said, that the chatter of pet parrots helped him regain speech.
“Two birds taught me to talk again. I had such a bad head injury I was never supposed to talk any more than a two-year-old,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
The two parrots had been with Wilson since he was a child.
He revealed that they “just kept talking to me and talking to me”.
“Then all of a sudden, a word popped out, then two, then more,” he added.
Wilson feels so grateful to the birds who helped him that he has devoted his life to feathered pets whose owners are no longer able or want to keep them.
His home presently boasts about 80 brightly plumed exotic birds, from snow-white cockatoos to scarlet or blue and green macaws to African grey parrots.
He has even set up a foundation called the Wilson Parrot Foundation, which offers the services of the birds to entertain at birthday parties and corporate events.
“You wonder why I rescue birds? They helped me to talk again, so now I take care of them,” he said.
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