Escaped peacock back at Bronx Zoo after spending night in tree
BRONX, New York (WABC) -- "Raul" the escaped peacock made his way back to the Bronx Zoo after spending Thursday morning roosting in a tree in the Bronx.
The wayward bird had been perched in the tree since before 8 p.m. Wednesday night, after flying off zoo grounds.
A crowd of people gathered around the bird once he settled on E. 180th Street and Vyse Avenue.
Despite all efforts from the NYPD and FDNY to safely capture the beautiful bird, he appeared to make it quite clear he wanted to stay perched up high. After all, trying to capture a bird with feathers five feet long likely isn't something first responders are accustomed to doing.
WATCH | "Raul" spends Thursday morning evading first responders in a tree:
His name was actually given to him by members of the community who were very surprised to see a peacock in a nearby tree.
The Bronx Zoo's nearly 100 peafowl roam freely on its grounds, as they have since 1926, and have been known to stray occasionally. One similarly flew away in 2011.
"Peafowl are not dangerous. The Bronx Zoo has free roaming peafowl on its grounds which move through the park with guests on a daily basis," the zoo said in a statement. "Like many other animals, peafowl rely on a flight response when they feel threatened. But like any animal, when cornered, they may react and peck to protect themselves. This is why we are asking people to give the animal space."
The zoo said they kept an eye on the bird Thursday morning and fully expected him to return to the zoo, as he did.
"We had confidence in our knowledge of bird behavior to predict how he would behave if given the chance to do so without interference," the zoo said in a statement. "We were confident in our staffs' ability to handle the situation."
Raul isn't New York City's only avian escapee. Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl, broke free from the Central Park Zoo in February and managed to elude his rescuers time and time again. To many experts' surprise, Flaco became comfortable outside of captivity and started hunting for his own prey.
And it was back in 2019 when 7 On Your Side stepped in to help a wayward peahen that was ruffling feathers in a Long Island neighborhood.
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