Mitthu no more

City's oldest parrot loses battle against old age

He remembered names and could identify people.

He possessed the IQ of a 12 year-old but yesterday, Mitthu, the African Gray parrot, whose claim to fame was being the oldest parrot in the city, squawked his last at Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).


The owner, Aruna Mehrotra, says that Mitthu was part of their family for the last 50 years

According to Dr J C Khanna, secretary of SPCA and doctor who treated him, Mitthu was the oldest parrot in the city. Aruna Mehrotra (90), Mitthu's owner, said that he was part of their family for the last 50 years.
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Mini, Aruna's caretaker, added that Mitthu was an extension of the Mehrotra family.

"Mummy (Aruna) knew that Mitthu was going to die soon and that's when she told me to perform a puja and put tulsi leaves in Mitthu's mouth.

According to Dr Khanna, when the parrot was brought to the hospital in Parel, it was gasping. Dr Khanna said he put Mitthu on the ventilator and administered an injection but to no avail.
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"We tried our level best, but the bird was old and unresponsive to medicine. He suffered from cataract in one eye. This was the oldest parrot that I have ever treated at the centre," said Khanna.

In a state of grief and sorrow, Mini added, "Whenever an unknown person came to visit, Mitthu would start squawking u00a0loudly.
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If the phone rang and no one attended to it then Mitthu used to call out our names. He used to call Aruna mummy."

Did you know?
On an average, an African Gray parrot lives for 25 to 50 years. Considered as an extremely intelligent bird because of its ability to talk or mimic different sounds and noises, it has a unique capacity for putting words and sounds into the right context.