A roadside fortune-teller van­ished within minutes after he was confronted by an animal activist for chopping off the wings of his pet parrot.

The man who had set up shop on a pavement adjacent to famous Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, did not see anything amiss when animal activist Fizzah Shah came up to him and asked him some questions about his bird. But Fizzah's sharp eyes had noticed that the bird's wings had been clipped, due to which he was unable to fly.

Recounting the incident, Fizzah says, "1 spotted the man with his parrot on the pave­ment. There were a few peo­ple around him and the bird was walking around aimless­ly. When I asked the man about his parrot, he replied, "Who nahi udta humne use train kiya hai (It doesn't fly as I have trained it)."

"I immediately told him what he had done was illegal," Fizzah said, and asked, 'him to accompany her to the nearby police station. It took less than a minute for the self-proclaimed fortune-teller to race off from the scene, as soon as he heard the word "police station". The parrot was lat­er examined by Dr Brijesh Raj, who confirmed that the bird's entire plumage was pulled out by the roots, leaving only the outer layer intact.

"In such cases, it is almost impossible for the bird to grow new wings. This bird will never be able to fly again," added Dr. Raj.

Now this wingless parrot who is called 'Mitthu' is the apple of the eye in the Shah household and keeps hoping around merrily in entire house.