Sadness as baby parrot watched by millions being born at Skegness wildlidlife park dies

The little chick took almost 48 hours to hatch and the wildlife park in Friskney streamed live on Facebook numerous times, before the Eclectus Parrot was finally born on Tuesday evening.

Among the viewers who were captivated was fashion stylist and television presenter Gok Wan.

Steve Nichols, CEO at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park, announced the tragic news in a video on Facebook on Valentine's Day.

He said: “Bit of bad news really. The little chick passed away in the early hours of this morning (Sunday), no idea why. Did a feed at 2am, he was fine, and at 3.45am unfortunately he had passed away.

“Unfortunately, these things happen. We do our best, we try to do what we can. There is usually a reason why mum abandons the egg, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t try.

"We’ve done it in the past successfully and no doubt we’ll do it in the future, but in the meantime a bit of bad news for Valentine’s Day.”

The videos of the baby chick being born attracted more than six million views.

Excitement grew during Tuesday and there had been more than one million views before the park went live again to captured the big moment around 8pm.

"It's been a long haul but he's still got a lot to do," said Steve Nicholls, the park's CEO, to more than 22,000 people who were watching. . "Keep sharing this is a really exciting moment".

Just over one hour and 18 minutes later, the chick made the final push with his tiny wings to be born in the warmth of the incubator.

"One more push... that's it, he's born, woohoo! Welcome to the world," said Steve. "That's the little chap. You've just witnessed the real deal. Right from yesterday morning when the egg started to hatch,

"He's having a bit if a rest now. The little chap is now shattered."

Sixty-two thousand people left messages of congratulations, including the Deputy Mayor of Skegness' twin town of Badgandersheim, Ingrid Lohmann.

She told Steve: "I can‘t believe you are so patient not to interfere! This is a midwife speaking."

Hundreds went online again to leave messages of sympathy after the sad news.

Christine Flynn said: “Such sad news but you and your team gave him the best chance in life but sometimes mother nature knows best.

“Baby Gok bought so much to us in his short life. If it wasn’t for him we would never have known about you and the wonderful work you do. I really can’t wait to come and visit the wildlife park.”

Mandy Briant said: “I remember you saying Steve sadly that the parents may have had their reasons to abandoning the egg.

“You gave the little one a chance it wouldn’t have had otherwise. There are thousands of people who have watched a parrot hatching that wouldn’t have otherwise. Keep up the good work. Team wildlife Lincolnshire.”

However, Steve ended the sad announcement with some good news about the latest parrot to be taken in at the park's hospital.

"Jamie the Amazon parrot is doing fine and is now eating which is some good news to end on," he said.

There was also some positive news regarding the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park's Facebook page likes which have reached 91.2k, compared with Rand farm Park at 35.4k, Skegness Aquarium 18k and Ark Wildlife Park 17k.

Hildreds managar Steve Andrews commented: "You are amazing! I have never been to anywhere that puts so much passion into everything you do."