12:57pm UK, Wednesday April 21, 2004

The strange looks of a very odd budgie are winning hearts across New Zealand.

Whipper the budgie's extraordinary plumage, stunted wings and bizarre attempts at whistling like a bird have not impressed everyone.

Whipper the budgie

He was rejected by his mother and has been declared a mutant by his vet.

But Whipper has made fans and admirers of everyonein the small New Zealand town of Winton who has laid eyes on him.

"Nobody's ever seen anything like him before... there's just total disbelief," said owner Julie Hayward, who has played host to a steady stream of curious neighbours.

"He's so cute how he's got really fluffy, curly bits," was one young girl's reaction to Whipper.

But his looks are not the only thing that make Whipper stand out from the crowd.

"He doesn't make the same sound as budgie. In fact he doesn't make the same sound as anything really," said Mrs Hayward.

Whipper's mother, though, was unable to appreciate her offspring's unique curls and whirls.

"She threw him out twice, so the second time it was too risky to leave him in there," Mrs Hayward said.

Family friend Gillian McFarlane said: "He is just glorious. There was something right from the start that he was just going to turn into a little megastar."