Send me the bill

A rare exotic bird has been given a new lease of life after his beak broke off — and a metal one was fitted in its place.

The southern ground hornbill, one of only 12 in Britain, would have starved without human intervention. Staff at Birdland, in Gloucester, fitted a six-inch beak made from stainless steel and attached by five small bolts. Now 15-year-old Metal Mickey, as visitors are calling him, is doing well. He is believed to be the first bird in Britain to have a steel jaw.

Simon Blackwell, director of Birdland, said: “One of the keepers went into his aviary a couple of weeks ago and about half of the bird’s bottom mandible was missing.

“We don’t really know what happened. Perhaps he caught it on the wire, or he may have been fighting. He was kept on his own for a week but is now back with his mate.”

Southern ground hornbills are from southern Africa and can live for up to 40 years. In the wild they eat lizards, frogs and birds’ eggs but in captivity survive on rats and mice.