Peacock takes to the street

Officials seeking owner of stray bird

Residents in northwest Lawrence looked out their window Wednesday morning and saw not the usual robin, but a peacock streaking down the street.

After being notified the animal was loose, animal control officers cornered the peacock in the 800 block of Prescott Drive. The bird was transported to the Prairie Park Nature Center.

“It’s the big news of the day: Wild peafowl runs amok through Lawrence,” Marty Birrell, center director, said.

The peacock, which is a prohibited animal within city limits, will stay at the center for three days while police attempt to identify its owner. If they can’t, or if the bird is unclaimed by its owner, it then will become the property of the city.

Sgt. Mike Pattrick of the Lawrence Police Department said if the owner was found and lived within the city limits, he or she would be subject to a citation for owning a prohibited animal. A court-determined fine could be issued with the citation.

If an investigation finds the owner allowed the peacock to run at large in the city, a fine of $30 for a first offense could be issued, in addition to any applicable court costs or impoundment fees.

Birrell said the center would help find a proper home for the bird if the owner was not found.

Marty Birrell, director of the Prairie Park Nature Center, looks over a peacock that was found on the loose in Lawrence. The bird was caught Wednesday and brought to the center, where it will stay temporarily.

“They told me they didn’t think the owner would want it back,” Birrell said. “One of our volunteers has a farm and has expressed an interest in adopting it.”

A Journal-World story in March 2000 told of eight peacocks that needed to be relocated from Do Little Farm, north of Overland Drive between Eldridge Street and Monterey Way, because of the changing city codes. But contacted Thursday, caretakers at the farm did not want to comment for this story.

Birrell said the peacock seemed accustomed to human contact. She said the peacock may have been loose a few days, fending for itself by eating bugs.

The nature center works with city and county animal control officials and is used to holding anything from an abused rattlesnake to 200 confiscated animals from a pet store.

“We’ve seen a little bit of everything here,” Birrell said.