http://video.stv.tv/bc/entertainment-fivethirty-20090325-parrot-sanctuary+mixdown/

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Broadcast Date:

·         Wednesday, March 25, 2009 on stv

·         Moody parrot? Send your feathered friend to boot camp

If your parrot’s stressing you out one woman has the answer – a boot camp for parrots in her special sanctuary on a remote Scottish island.

Yvonne Macmillan is a parrot behaviour consultant who runs her rehabilitation centre for the birds from her home on the island of Kerrera, off the coast of Oban.

Although it’s an unusual way to spend the day, Yvonne insists she’s not crackers and has cared for violent birds and others who have came to her in dreadful states.

She said: “I realise there was desperately a need for more information so I started a website. I travel all over Scotland giving free advice and also bring birds up for boot camp, where they’re rehabilitated and get rid of some of their nastier habits.”

Speaking to STV’s the five thirty show, Yvonne explained how it all started.

“Max came to me about seven or eight years ago,” she said. “His owner had rescued him from a flat in Glasgow and he brought him in for me to look after because I was well versed with birds. The problem with Max is when he came in, he would not go home.”

She added: “The secret to changing their behaviour is patience and lots of it…be willing to take a bite and not flinch. If you squeak or make a noise when they bite you, it reinforces that behaviour.”