Last week, the Sapulpa Animal Shelter received an interesting call about a peacock taking up residence on a neighbor’s porch, prompting the city’s animal control to get involved and move the gorgeous but mischievous bird to their facility while they tried to contact the owners.
The owners were eventually reached, and the peacock—which we named “Jack”—was returned to its home.
At roughly 12:37pm on Wednesday, Sapulpa Times gets a call from Sapulpa Police Officer Pete Sellers. “You want an update on that peacock story?” he asked. “We just got a peahen.”
Contrary to popular belief, “peacock” is not the universal name for the birds that are known for displaying their extravagant plumage as part of a mating ritual. The crested pheasant is properly known as “peafowl,” and in a way similar to chickens, the males are known as peacocks, and the females as peahens. They are native to Asia, but popular throughout the world and can be commonly found in zoos—and occasionally your own front porch, apparently.
The newly-acquired peahen at the animal shelter is smaller than the male, and much more timid. A silky white with shades of brown mixed in, the hen stood in a large cage, rather than being placed in the laundry room, as her male counterpart had last week.
By the time we arrived at the shelter to get the story, the owners were also present and in the process of retrieving their hen. We learned her name was Lady Gaga, and the peacock we had seen last week was in fact named Percy Jackson—fairly close to the name we had chosen. They also have a second peacock, named Tyrone.
The owners removed Lady Gaga from the cage and wrapped her in a blanket to keep the hen from taking flight on the way to the car. The owners thanked the officers for keeping her safe and said they’d work on keeping their birds better secured in the future.
The Sapulpa Animal shelter is still facing a strong need for adoptions; at last count, they have over 130 felines of various ages that have been place at the shelter. If you can adopt or foster, call the Sapulpa Animal Shelter at (918) 227-2722.
