With Germany on
the cusp of federal elections, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has decided
to step down from the top post, is busy having fun. Merkel was on a trip to a
bird park in Germany to spend some quality time in the company of nature. But
her bird park trip, which started out great, eventually turned into a scare-fest
when Merkel, the Germany’s leader of 16 years and the European Union’s symbol
of stability, went to feed the lorikeets.

Angela Merkel’s
struggle with the birds was caught on camera and the internet has had a field
day seeing the stateswoman in a never-before look. Memes and jokes around Merkel’s
bird park visit have flooded the internet.

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The 67-year-old
leader was on a farewell tour of her home constituency in Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania where she was campaigning for the centre-right Union bloc’s
candidate. It was there that Merkel decided to visit the Vogelpark Marlow bird
park. And what happened to the German chancellor at the bird park is for all to
see.

At first,
everything seemed fine. Merkel clicked a few candid shots with the birds who
were seen perched on her hands as well as her head smiling brightly. But soon,
things took a turn for the worse. The colourful parrots started eating ‘lori
nectar’ from a paper cup and then one of the birds pecked the leader of
Germany. The pictures were captured by George Wendt, a photographer with the
DPI news agency.

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Just as the
pictures were shared on social media, memes started flowing in. While to some
users, Angela Merkel’s pictures reminded them of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film “The
Birds” others said Merkel’s pictures with the birds, first happy and then
scared, embodies the spirit of the week they had. Memes, of course, flooded the
internet.

Germany is going
to polls on Sunday, September 26 to elect its next federal government. Following
the polls, Angela Merkel is expected to lead the interim government before the
newly-elected government can take over charge. Climate change and action against
the worst impacts of it have been the mainstay of the German electioneering
this time.