A parrot from Congleton has become the face of a international campaign.

Dr Paul O'Donoghue, who many will know from Channel 5's Elephant Hospital, has helped launch an initiative to ban the private ownership of exotic birds in the UK and with it, put an end to trafficking.

The face of the campaign is Coco, an African grey who was rescued by Congleton couple Noemi and Tony Keddle after spending 20 years living alone in a cage.

"When Paul asked us whether Coco could be the face behind the campaign, we were more than happy to say yes," said Noemi.

"Coco, along with tens of thousands of other parrot chicks, have been smuggled into the country in the most horrendous of ways - stuffed into plastic bottles, toilet rolls and smuggled in vans without water or food.

"The main purpose of this campaign is to make it illegal to keep these precious wild birds as pets in the UK and to educate people about how they are brought into the country and how buying them results in so much suffering.

"It is also important to encourage people to rehome them rather than buying from breeders."

Noemi and Tony had always wanted a parrot, so in June 2021 they reached out to online rescue centres across the UK.

However, what they discovered is that many of these online groups are fronts, asking for huge amounts of money and using the birds as commodities, rather than genuine rescue services.

Eventually, the couple were contacted by Dr O'Donaghue about Coco, who wasn't fitting in with his other rescue birds.

Noemi said: "Paul wanted to make sure that we are animal lovers and that we have the time and the dedication to look after a bird that can live up to 60 years.

"It is just like adopting a child. These parrots have the intelligence of a child, they have very complex emotional and physical needs.

"When people think of parrots they think of the cute budgies many of us had as pets when we were children. Sadly, many of us did not realise that these poor birds were suffering. It was so wrong and so many of us experienced something like this growing up.

"People need to be aware that keeping birds in cages is not normal. It is cruel and causes them so much pain and suffering. They should live in their natural habitat."

Hatched in the Congo rainforest 20 years ago, Coco was taken from the wild and crammed into a plastic bottle before being trafficked to the UK.

Since then, she has been passed from owner to owner, always living alone in a cage.

As a result, she is unable to fly and is partially bald, having plucked out most of her feathers.

Dr O'Donoghue explains that birds do this to cause themselves mild pain in order to release beta-endorphins, which soothe them.

Tony said: "It's an addiction and they will never really grow out of it.

"It really hit us hard to think that they are self-mutilating because they feel so lonely.

"We are convinced that Coco is the most beautiful girl despite her bald and having a very limited vocabulary.

"Funnily enough she only copies Noemi's voice. She laughs the way Noemi laughs, she says her name the way Noemi says it and has also learned to sing like an opera singer, she is such a character!

"Her favourite game is to start whistling Jingle Bells and Noemi has to finish it, then she whistles another song, for example by Gwen Stefani, then Noemi whistles it further, and so on and on.

"She sometimes makes up her own melody by mixing several songs, then she has a good laugh!"

Coco only goes into a cage to sleep at night.

In the morning she makes a beeping sound to let Tony and Noemi know she is ready for the day.

They say she loves chewing cardboard boxes, foraging toys, having breakfast with Noemi and, more than anything, stealing Tony's glasses.

Noemi added: "She is definitely a daddy's girl! Tony often lets her get on his shoulder and walk around the house.

"We also rehomed a German shepherd called Lottie and the two girls are very good sisters.

"Every morning when Coco and comes into the kitchen, they share a little peck. It is adorable!"

To find out more about Coco's story and Dr O'Donoghue's , visit the CrowdJustice page here.