Wednesday last week our son (who is eleven) found a peacock under a cardboard box in our barn. It was weighted down so the peacock had not got there by itself. He was overjoyed as he loves birds and had always wanted a big one. It was blue with a short tail so some hasty googling led us to believe it was a juvenile male. We put it in our large dog cage and he fed and watered it and we wondered what to do with it.
Next day I reported it to our local Mairie (we live in France) and could hear the laughing without aid of the phone.
Thursday evening at about 7 my DH told me the peacock cage was open and empty. Two minutes later our son appeared so we asked him where it had gone. He had no idea so he went to look in the cage.
He came back amazed as there now WAS a peacock in the cage, but it was a DIFFERENT peacock. This new one had a lovely long tail and was a bit of an interference fit length wise.
The mystery deepened.
How on earth did the first one get out and the second one get in?
I telephoned the gendarmes who didn't laugh quite so much as the Secretaire at the Mairie. They said they would redirect anyone who had lost a peacock to the Mairie.
We knew we couldn't keep the poor thing locked up so we telephoned local zoos and animal parks but they all had enough peacocks. And as it really looks as though it had been dumped we had no hopes of anyone claiming it back. Plus we are moving house, downsizing and already have enough things of our own to get rid of!
Finally, yesterday we found someone to take it.
And I said eight words I thought I would never hear myself say - "At least we got rid of the peacock".