Douglas (parrot)

Douglas (hatched ca 1967) is the male scarlet macaw that played the parrot Rosalinda in the 1970 Pippi Longstocking movie Pippi in the South Seas.

Douglas was imported from Brazil to Sweden in 1967. Three years later he starred as the female parrot Rosalinda in the popular movie Pippi in the South Seas. Douglas is capable of singing and of speaking a few dozen words. In 2002, 32 years after the movie, Douglas garnered a lot of attention in the Swedish press, when the authorities were considering to put him to death due to its owner at the time not having the proper paperwork. A petition pleading for Douglas' life comprised over 50,000 signatures including one by the actress Inger Nilsson, who played Pippi in the 1970 movie. Ultimately Douglas was spared after its first owner in Sweden produced the proper paper work, showing that he was legally imported from Brazil in 1967.[1][2]

In 2005 Douglas moved to a small zoo in Malmö, where he lived together with a female blue-and-yellow macaw called Gojan until 2016. Early in 2016 Douglas once more attracted the attention of the Swedish media and later of the German one as well. Swedish authorities had again plans to put Douglas to death due to its cage of 3 m2 being too small and not allowing him to fly. The authorities requested an aviary of at least 30 m2, which the zoo couldn't provide. The zoo's director Frank Madsen tried to get an exception arguing that due to its very old age Douglas was incapable of flying anyhow and that it made no sense to cut short his remaining final years. As the authorities were unwilling to grant an exception, Madsen turned to the press and received soon over 100 offers for a new home for Douglas and Gojan. Ultimately the Karlsruhe Zoo in Germany was selected and in April Madsen himself delivered Douglas and Gojan to Karlsruhe, where they were greeted with a public welcome party.[3][2][1]

Five months later in September 2016 Gojan passed away at an age of 45 and the zoo is planning to pair Douglas with another macaw.[4]

External links

Notes

  1. 1 2 Sigrid Harms: Papagei aus „Pippi Langstrumpf“: Douglas muss sterben. Spiegel Online, 7 April 2016 (German)
  2. 1 2 Pippis Papagei darf weiterleben – in Karlsruhe. Der Tagesspiegel, 14 April 2016 (German)
  3. ↑ Pippis Papagei. Taz, 17 May 2016 (German)
  4. ↑ Papagei aus "Pippi Langstrumpf" - Ara Douglas ist jetzt Witwer . Spiegel Online, 23 September 2016 (German)
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