Potty-mouthed or misunderstood? Parrot at center of neighborly dispute in California
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A purported potty-mouthed parrot is at the heart of a neighborly dispute in California that has local law enforcement unsure what to do with this bird-brained problem.
Animal Control Services in the Central Valley town of Tracy has responded to over a dozen complaints of a dog barking and a parrot named Rula allegedly cursing up a storm in Spanish.
According to a report by a local news station, the woman who called Animal Control Services, Jessica Baca, claims her neighbor’s bird has repeated a word meaning "prostitute" in Spanish multiple times and now her grandchildren are repeating the word.
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Rula's owner Rita Canisales, argued that the parrot does not curse in any language and that he does not know any Spanish, although he can imitate a variety of other noises.
"He barks like a dog and meows like a cat," she said. "He can sound like a drill or sound like a waterfall."
Canisales added that Baca is probably not hearing Rula correctly and that the bird is actually uttering its own name, which rhymes with the term that has offended Baca.
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Tracy Animal Services supervisor Ben Miller said officers who responded to the complaints have not personally heard profanity from Rula.