Lottery win of $3.6m sparks chaos which leads to parrot injury
A woman who won $3.6 million on a lottery scratch ticket needed to rush to the vet after her parrot dislocated its foot during all the 'crazy' excitement.
Self-confessed animal lover and mum of four, Lesley Herbert, 42, was waiting to confirm her National Lottery Monopoly Riches Scratchcard win when her parrot injured itself.
“It was a crazy moment when I found out I had won," Ms Herbert said.
"Just as I was waiting to get the ticket validated, everything got a little more chaotic as Bibi, my African Grey rescue parrot, had an accident, dislocating her foot.”
Ms Herbert did in fact win £2,000,000, or $3.6 million, but she put off celebrating to take Bibi to the vet, and took the winning ticket to prove she could pay the bill.
"The vet team were brilliant but were very shocked when I showed them a picture of the scratchcard as an IOU," Ms Herbert said according to the Basingstoke Gazette.
"They laughed that they’d never before been shown a £2,000,000 winning scratchcard as a guarantee the bill would be paid."
Lottery winner aims to add chickens to her menagerie
In addition to Bibi, Ms Herbert has another parrot called Alfie and two rescue dogs named Nicko and Luna — the first thing she plans on buying some chickens.
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She also plans to rescue more animals in need of a forever home, though she does hope to do more in the future to help animals.
“In the longer term I would love to look at starting my own animal shelter charity," she said.
"Charity and giving back to those in need is something that is really close to my heart. I currently help an organisation by picking up close to out-of-date food from supermarkets and I distribute it to those who are in need.”
Strange feeling leads to ticket purchase
A strange feeling led Ms Herbert to purchase the winning ticket when she went to the shops to pick up some spinach.
"I popped to the shops to buy some spinach, of all things, but decided against it and ended up getting a chocolate orange bar," she said.
"For some reason I was also feeling quite lucky, so treated myself to a Monopoly Riches National Lottery Scratchcard."
Ms Herbert's grandfather always used to say he would buy her a big house on a hill when he won the National Lottery, however he never did and died in December.
"I can’t help feeling he was with me that day, telling me to buy the ticket – I just wish he was here to see it," she said.
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