Although I agree that the absurdness of the parrot being dead upon purchase is a valid point I like to think there is something more to it. It's also a great commentary on salesmanship and marketing. The amount of excuses and counter arguments the clerk comes up with really points out things that could be concieved as valuable sales traits in the context of todays capitalist world. Selling it as a 'Norwegian Blue' in the first place also supports this view.

Then again, I could just be a commie reading too much into it ;)

To the point of comparing it to the original joke, I'd say it's similar, but hardly plagiarism.