Peacock On The Loose

We live in an odd town.  The first week we moved here we noticed a man walking a pig on a leash and the pig easily weighed in at 200 lbs.  That was his pet pig and he walked it every day and when the pig died some years back, the whole town went into mourning and 3 local papers covered it.

Now we have peacocks.  The picture below was taken by our neighbor across the street.  The bird was behind their house and was a good 6-feet in length from head to tail feathers.  Remember Spike the great hunter cat from my earlier post?  Well, this bird was in Spike's back yard.  According to Spike's owners, Pat & Donny, Spike watched the bird from about a 3-feet distance but declined to get any closer.  He must have thought that was the mother of all birds.

Pat and Donny took the photo you see here and e-mailed it around the block.  My favorite reply is from a neighbor who e-mailed back, "If you catch it, I have a great recipe for peacock stew."

Pat's brother who was in town visiting followed the bird up the street, where it took a left at a house with a small pond outfront and then flew about 10 feet in the air to perch in a tree.  I would have liked to see a bird that size flying.  I always thought peacocks gave little hop-jumps more than took flight.  Looks like I was wrong.

What's next?  Elephants in the garden?