BIRD owners sick of talking parrot-fashion to their pets are being offered a hi-tech alternative by a local shop.

Instead of talking non-stop to train their parrots, bird lovers can let their hi-fi take the strain by playing a new compact disc packed full of useful phrases.

And Northern Parrots, of Bridge Street, Ramsbottom has secured the sole concession to sell the Parnami CD in the UK.

Michael Taylor, of Northern Parrots is delighted to be bringing the modern day alternative to Dr Dolittle to this country. He said: "It can be very time consuming to sit there teaching a parrot to talk. With this CD you can put it on while you get on with something else.

"It's also good company for the bird - parrots can fret and start pulling at their own feathers when they're left on their own."

He added: "Of course you can still spend time relaxing and talking to your parrot yourself, but the CD does a lot of the hard work for you."

The CD contains about 100 useful phrases including "Good morning", "Cheer up", "How are you?" and even "I tawht I taw a puddy tat."

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