‘Profit prioritised over welfare’: UK’s premier exotic animal hospital to close

Last month, clients and staff were given six weeks notice that the veterinary practice was closing. Photograph: Helena Horton/The Guardian

On a nondescript industrial estate on the outskirts of Swindon, visitors may hear a faint squawking in the distance as bird lovers from Exeter to Edinburgh bring their brightly coloured budgies and macaws to an exotic animal hospital.

But now, the UK’s premier parrot surgery, which treats all kinds of creatures, is to be shut down after it was bought out by a conglomerate that has decided the business is not viable.