Man sues neighbours over rude bird

The offensive squawks of a pet bird so enraged a Taiwanese man that he sued its owners - his neighbours - for inflicting emotional stress and injuries, a report said Tuesday.

Wang Han-chin, an electrician in central Taiwan, accused five neighbours of teaching their mynah, a parrot-like bird, to curse at him as revenge after he complained to the police that they were too loud, the Liberty Times reported.

Wang alleged that whenever he left home, the bird would see him off with the words "Clueless big-mouthed idiot", causing serious distress and making him lose concentration at work so he suffered burn injuries, it said.

He pressed charges, but the neighbours denied instructing the bird to curse and prosecutors decided to drop the charges due to insufficient evidence linking the bird to his injuries, it added.