One of the most successful 'alien animals'
in the UK, i.e. a non-native species introduced here that has since established
itself as a thriving naturalised addition to the resident fauna, is the Indian
ring-necked parakeet Psittacula krameri
manillensis. Over 30,000 specimens are currently believed to exist in Great
Britain, centred in and around London but with smaller populations widely
dispersed across England and southern Scotland.
Distribution map of the ring-necked parakeet in Great Britain
(green = resident; yellow = summer; blue = winter; Cnbrb/Wikipedia,
copyright-free)
Although it is generally accepted that they
first appeared in Great Britain during the mid-1900s, there has been much
speculation as to who was responsible for their original introduction.
Interestingly, in amongst the many suggestions that have been put forward at
one time or another can be found the names of two celebrities – namely, the
rock star Jimi Hendrix and the actress Katharine Hepburn.
Legendary rock star Jimi Hendrix, of 'Purple Haze' fame (public
domain)
The oft-repeated urban legend implicating
Hendrix is that he released a pair in London's fashionable Carnaby Street in
1968. And the equally popular Hepburn hypothesis posits that they are
descendants of escapees from an animal collection brought to England in 1951
when Katherine Hepburn was filming the movie 'The African Queen' in London alongside
co-star Humphrey Bogart.
Multi-Oscar-winning actress Katharine Hepburn (public domain)
However, a recent research project based at
London's Queen Mary University and led by the late Dr Steven Le Comber
uncovered a very different explanation. Published in December 2019 by the Journal of Zoology, the results of their
study were obtained by using geographic profiling methods traditionally used to
track down criminals.
These revealed that during the 1930s
onwards, parakeets had been released widely throughout the country, rather than
just in a single London location, and that the reason for this had been lurid
newspaper reports of parrot owners succumbing to a potentially deadly
lungs-affecting infection known as psittacosis, but popularly nicknamed the
parrot disease, as it can be transmitted to humans by parrots. So after more
than 50 years for Hendrix and almost 70 years for Hepburn, the respective
putative charges raised against them as illegal parakeet liberators by media
gossips can finally, and confidently, be thrown out. Case(s) dismissed!
Katharine Hepburn in 'The
African Queen' (public domain)
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Interesting read. About 10years ago my parents owned a talking Quaker Parrot. We had gone to a cousin's wedding in Savannah, Ga and stopped at the huge Flea Market down that way. The Flea Market is so big that it has its own pet stores, military surplus, ect. My step-mom saw a bunch of birds and was talking to the shop owner about our parrot. Apparently, they were illegal to own in several states, Georgia being one, as they have several colonies of the birds around the US!
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