Feature: Gaza parrots love drinking coffee

A little store selling birds in an eastern neighborhood of the Gaza City has been known to locals for its own stars: two parrots that are addicted to drinking tea and coffee, which is rather rare but also interesting in the impoverished enclave.

The two parrots, Ricco, a four-year-old male, and Kocco, a two-year-old female, usually drink four cups of coffee every day, according to Ashraf Ar'eer, owner of the birds' store. "I have never seen such a phenomenon before," he said.

Ar'eer, 45 and father of five children, has been a fan of birds since he was 14.

"Look! If I deprive Ricco and Kocco from drinking tea and coffee, they become mad and behave crazily. One day, the two birds attacked me when I got into the shop without their favorite drinks," he said with Ricco standing on his shoulder.

Ar'eer said the story started about three months ago when the two birds once attempted to drink coffee from his cup, thinking it was water. He just let them try a sip. To his surprise, the birds reacted happily by flying off in the store. Since then, he has been offering them four cups of coffee every day, and decided not to sell them.

Now drinking coffee has turned quite interesting for Ar'eer, as his parrot buddies are trying to share the brown coffee with him.

"It is very awkward that parrots drink coffee and tea. It is unusual that the parrot holds the coffee cup and drinks coffee. I love birds in general, but I love those two parrots the most. I treat them as if they were my kids," Ar'eer said.

The two little buddies have turned a phenomenal in the neighborhood, and are gaining more and more popularity across the whole strip.

Sometimes Ar'eer's tiny store can be crammed with nearly 100 visitors in one day who would only come to watch the birds drinking coffee, something rather rare in the Gaza Strip where severe poverty, unemployment, ongoing Israeli blockade and delay of reconstruction usually prevail.

Since the Hamas movement took over Gaza by force in 2007, Israel has been imposing a tight blockade upon the small strip, employing a restricted permits policy that allows people to leave the region only in rare humanitarian cases.

Even the supply of drinking water to Gaza was capped for years to five million cubes per annum, until early March when Israel decided to double the quota to ten million cubes due to a severe water shortage that was exacerbated by the latest Gaza war last summer between Israel and Hamas-led militants.

The blockade also left a rocketing unemployment rate in Gaza. Many jobless young men began to keep pets and even made business out of it, which, for them, is not only making a living but also entertaining after suffering the psychological pressure every day.

"I come here often to buy birds and some times to just to watch the parrots and other birds. Watching birds and listening to their singing relieves me very much. I wish I have enough money to buy all kinds birds available in Gaza," said Mahmoud Abu Ismael, a seemingly potential customer.

Besides the two parrots, Ar'eer store also offers various kinds of other birds, some not so expensive that he said everyone can afford, while other rare species fairly expensive.

"I buy all these birds, including the parrots, from Israeli stores and companies and they get into Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing," Ar'eer said.

"Some birds cost 5,000 shekles (about 1,250 U.S. dollars) ... There are many people who like to buy special kinds of birds regardless of its prices. I believe there are more people in Gaza who like to buy birds and keep them at home but the economic situation in Gaza is not good," he added.

Economic situation is not the only thing that Ar'eer has to worry about. During the large-scale Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip last summer, Israeli missiles and tanks shells targeted his neighborhood, totally demolishing his family's three-storey house, including his store in the ground floor.

"My losses were estimated at 25,000 U.S. dollars," Ar'eer claimed, saying he fled to a relative's house for safety reasons during the war, taking with him only the two star parrots and five other precious ones, leaving behind the rest 200 birds in his store which he is not likely to see alive again.

Now six months after the war, Ar'eer has rented a new shop and imported new bird. His store has been an attraction for the neighborhood's residents who gather to watch the two parrots drinking coffee and flying around in happiness. Endit