La Salle’s Royal, a hyacinth macaw, reaches round of 16 in Cadbury Bunny tryouts

Royal, a 9-year-old hyacinth macaw of La Salle, has been selected as one of the Creme 16 for the Cadbury Bunny tryouts, a national competition to determine the next “spokesbunny.”

Romelai Usquaino, Royal’s owner, enters the contest every year, but this is the first time the duo has gotten this far in the contest.

“Normally, they have their own judges,” she said. “This year they are letting the public vote. There are five rounds. He has already passed the first phase. They only picked 32.”

Usquaino said Royal is from Florida and was on a bad diet when she rescued him, but he slowly has come around to the idea of eating more healthy foods even though he’s stubborn. She said he loves macadamia nuts and bananas.

“He was used to just eating pizza and peanuts,” she said. “Now we’re trying to get him to eat more vegetables, even though he’ll grab the vegetables and throw them.”

Royal has a few hobbies. He enjoys people, being outside and wearing clothes – that is, when he’s in the mood.

“He enjoys riding his bike,” she said. “He’ll ride like 5 feet, and when he feels like he’s moving, he’ll just come off.”

Royal is competing against Apollo, a bearded dragon, in this round. The round ends March 14, and if Royal moves on, he will be a part of the Eggcellent 8 round, which runs March 18 and 19.

According to the Cadbury bunny website, public voting has five rounds, with the number of contestants cut in half during each bracket. Voters have from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. to vote for their favorites.

The Cadbury bunny is the chocolate company’s mascot and spokescharacter, specifically in Cadbury egg commercials during the Easter season.

Each winner of a matchup in round one will receive $100, in round two $200, in round three $400, in round four $800 and, for the grand prize, the person with the most votes in round five will receive the opportunity to have his or her pet featured in a television commercial and receive $5,500, according to the website.

Usquaino said that if the La Salle duo wins, they would donate a portion of the winnings to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in honor of her best friend, Angelica Razo, who died from leukemia. She would donate another portion to a bird rescue, and they would like to buy Royal a big aviary.

To vote for Royal, visit instagram.com/cadburyusa?igsh=MTNvamQwbjh6cWpuNw==.