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George, an African grey parrot, lost his leg when he was attacked in his aviary by a wild animal a year and a half ago. Ever since, he’s had trouble sleeping as he tends to topple over, leading to him screeching the expletive.

She says that "you can tell by the way he fidgets that he's not comfortable and he has to bite the bars of his cage at night to balance."

Geroge’s problem led Sheila to contact Dr Glyn Heath at the Univeristy’s School of Health Care Professions. Dr Heath and his team are specialists in making and fitting false limbs on animals, though this is the first time they’ve worked on a parrot, as Glyn explains:

Dr Glyn Heath checks in on George

"While I've worked on dogs, rats and even a panda, George is my first bird. He's quite a challenge as he'll be more difficult to train than a dog. But with the simple solution, I'm hopeful that we can give him a little more comfort."

That simple solution is a specially moulded slot that will be fitted to George's perch so that he can rest his injured leg in it at night and get some much-needed rest.

Sheila is hopeful that the new limb can give George a better quality of life, saying that she is "really happy that Glyn has agreed to take him as a patient."

George wasn’t quite so vocal in his thanks, not that Sheila minds. As her pet’s vocabulary only extends to "bloody hell", "good morning" and "good night.", she’s just hoping that it’ll be the last phrase that she hears most now.