Meet the couple who keep giant PARROTS as pets - which they have to take for daily walks.<br /><br />Nimal Fernando and Claire Atallah, both 34, regularly exercise macaws Mikey and Mia around their village in Bedfordshire.<br /><br />The couple, who moved from Wimbledon, south London to Harlington a year and a half ago, took the large birds - which are controversial pets - into their home in 2016.<br /><br />They say they had no idea how much work the Mikey, eight, and Mia, five, would take.<br /><br />The parrots create huge amounts of mess and have cost Nimal and Claire deposits due to the damage caused.<br /><br />But they have no regrets - as they love seeing the birds soar.<br /><br />They are trained to stay on Nimal or Claire's arm when being walked along busy roads, but have full licence to roam whenever they are taken to a park.<br /><br />Nimal, originally from New Zealand, said: "Our lives would be very different without them, I can't imagine it.<br /><br />“Claire was infatuated with birds. She's always wanted a parrot and one random day in 2016 we decided to home one. <br /><br />"But we have met lots of other people who keep tropical birds, and we have massive parties at our house."<br /><br />The couple picked up Mikey after spotting an advert on Facebook. They then found Mia 18 months later.<br /><br />Nimal says the initial months were difficult - but worth it.<br /><br />He said: “There’s a huge problem of them being given up as people just don’t understand how to look after them.<br /><br />“They are extremely hard to care for.<br /><br />We didn’t realise the noise these birds make, they are extremely loud at all times of the day.<br /><br />“We started documenting our journey with them and people started telling us that we were feeding them all wrong.<br /><br />“So we started learning all about their nutrition, and basically became experts.”<br /><br />One of the biggest headaches of looking after the tropical birds is training them to fly, which Nimal says takes 10 months. <br /><br />And nothing can prepare you for the mess, he added.<br /><br />Nimal said: “The mess gets to another level - and they break a lot of things.<br /><br />We’ve had three flatscreen TVs broken, the majority of our clothes have holes in, and we have lost deposits on most places we’ve rented. <br /><br />“Going on holiday is extremely difficult. We can only go away if we get someone who is well trained to look after the birds, which is crazy expensive. <br /><br />However, since taking the birds under their wing, the couple have been supported by others who share their passion for feathered friends. <br /><br />And they started their own bird food company last year called Mikey and Mia Dry Mix, named after their beloved birds. <br /><br />The company has since taken off, with customers from all over the world paying for their bird food mix.<br /><br />The couple both work remotely, allowing them more time to head out to the great outdoors, with both doing freelance photography alongside their new venture.<br /><br />Nimal says that, despite the work, it has been "incredibly rewarding".<br /><br />"Both of them were confiend to cage, so it's really nice we've been able to re-home them," he said.
