A ‘parrot ambassador’, really?

Travel firm Holiday Pirates and the World Parrot Trust are looking for an ornithophile who will protect the species, in a unique tropical experience worth over £1,697.

Instead of slowly dying of boredom and fear in an office, your daily routine would involve feeding the parrots in the morning, surfing until lunch time, bird-watching in the tropical rainforest in the afternoon, etc.

In August, the best applicant will spend one month in Punta Islita, a Pacific paradise on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, as part of the Ara Project, which promotes the protection and preservation of parrots.

The lucky winner will work with conservationists, looking after macaws, updating the charity’s blog and posting envy-inducing videos of the local birds.

Hopeful parrot ambassadors need to submit by uploading a video to Youtube explaining why they are the best person for the job. The videos will be judged by a panel of experts, who will post the shortlisted videos on the travel company’s website later this month. The judges will pick a winner from the final top-three.

Granny drives 300 miles in the wrong direction

Valerie Johnson, 83, was supposed to go to Royal Hospital in Worcester, six miles from her home, but she carried on for eight hours and ended up in Scotland where she ran out of fuel.

It is believed that she missed her turn-off because of roadworks and carried on. She eventually stopped when her car ran out of fuel outside a couple’s house in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, around 20 miles outside Glasgow. The couple looked after her until her daughter arrived on a flight, according to reports.

Her daughter Karen Maskell said: “Mum’s next-door neighbour called me to say she hadn’t come back and he was worried. I thought she must have had an ­accident. We called the police and they said they had spotted her car on a traffic camera.”

Sergeant John McLeish from Larkhall police office said: “A local couple assisted ­Valerie and she informed them that she was lost.”

Meet Burrito — a kitten with unique fur

The six-week-old kitten, named Burrito, was brought to the Animal Welfare Association of New Jersey after good Samaritans found him and two other kittens abandoned on the street.

When Dr Erin Henry was examining the newly rescued kitten she was shocked to discover Burrito was male, as only 1 in 3,000 male kittens are born with orange and brown fur in the unique tortoiseshell pattern.

“I’ve examined thousands of kittens while working at AWA and they are so rare that he may be the only male tortoiseshell I’ll ever see again.”

Because of his rare colouring, Burrito has been sought after by hundreds of people throughout the world looking to adopt him.

“We’re over 300 inquires,” Maya Richmond, executive director of AWA told.

Burrito won’t be eligible to leave the shelter until he is eight weeks old, but Richmond said news of his unique colour has generated “a lot of wonderful exposure” for the AWA, which she hopes will help other kittens find homes.

Published in Dawn, Young World July 8th, 2017