AN EXOTIC bird has gone missing in Salisbury.

William, an African Grey Parrot, was last seen in Bowerchalke on Tuesday, August 6, before he escaped.

He is 23 months old, and owner Carol Moon says he is "friendly and talkative, ringed and microchipped."

According to Carole, some of his favourite words are: "Hello William/Carole/Louis [Carole's kitten), "shower, shower", "good morning", "bedtime" and "shop".

He loves pomegranates and watercress (from the beds in Broadchalke) and walnuts.

As a result of her parrot going missing, Carole has thrown her support behind #FernsLaw, a petition on change.org that calls for and update to the current pet microchip system, which the petition says "fails missing pets".

Carole said: "It is a legal requirement to advertise a found parrot and to try to trace the owner. Of course this is so much easier with micro chipping.

"While it is a requirement, I believe, for dog owners to get their dogs chipped it is not a legal requirement for the vet to scan pets brought in or to check the owners identity and details match the details registered to the microchip.

"The new petition is to try to make scanning compulsory. Fern's story is heart-rending and could have been prevented. We hope that ours will have a happy ending and someone comes forward.

"William has been notified to all the vet practices around and is listed on Gumtree, Preloved, ParrotAlert, PetsLocated, PetsReunited."