Joshua Parfitt
AN expat is pleading for help after a 60-year-old talking parrot was stolen from his restaurant on the Costa Blanca.
Thieves broke into the Tenere restaurant in Denia last week, trashing the cigarette machines, stealing the cameras and littering the floor with ‘clothes’ and ‘tablecloths’.
But the horror of the proprietors, beside the opened tills they found the door to their African grey parrot’s cage wide-open and Einstein – as he is known – vanished.
“Einstein has been in the owner’s care for 23 years after a previous owner fell ill and could not keep him anymore,” Michael Kosok, manager of the restaurant, told the Olive Press.
“He was an absolute favourite of Tenere’s customers.
“He could ‘hello’ and ‘bye bye’, he could whistle, and even imitate dogs and cats.
“Who remembered everyone’s name – they’re all heartbroken he’s gone.”
Kosok, 49, from Germany, said the parrot was most likely stolen on a ‘whim’.
He pleaded for expats and locals alike to keep an eye out for the beloved parrot.
“Without papers it will be really hard to sell him legally,” Kosok added.
“If a parrot suddenly turns up at the house of someone you know, please ask where they got him from.”
The daughter of Tenere’s Dutch-owner, Dominik Katyana Scholte Breycha, said the money stolen could be recovered, but the parrot’s loss will leave an irreplaceable hole in the restaurant.
“How can you people be so inhuman and so insensitive?” she said.
“Was it not enough everything you had stolen? so you take our feathered friend?
“After so many years with Einstein, it will not be the same any more.
“We know that he won’t be happy anywhere else – because his home is with us!”
African grey parrots can have a life expectancy exceeding 80 years.
They are incredibly intelligent birds, and without constant attention can quickly become stressed and pluck out their feathers.
If you have any information on Einstein, please call the Olive Press on +34 951 273 575.
