A series of Bristol residents have encountered a peacock wandering around Bristol Mills and Round Pond.
Nancy Hanna snapped a photograph of the bird “sauntering down Lower Round Pond Road.”
“It seems to know how to walk down the side of the road facing traffic,” Hanna wrote in an e-mail to The Lincoln County News.
Bristol resident and Animal Damage Control agent Mike Witte said he has received more than 20 calls and, has attempted to capture the fowl with the help of Animal Control Officer John Prior and others.
As of today at 11 a.m., those efforts have been fruitless.
“We can’t catch it,” Witte said.
Every time someone corners the bird, it flies or runs away. “It can run like a deer,” Witte said.
He theorized that 6-8 people with nets might be able to catch it. He expressed concern, however, that even if someone managed to corral the bird, he doesn’t have a cage large enough for its eight-foot wingspan.
There appears to be a more subtle strategy in the works. Witte said he has heard a “peacock whisperer” is en route to the area to attempt a diplomatic resolution.
Although the bird has been at large for about two weeks, the town has yet to receive any inquiries about a missing peacock.
“We don’t have a clue” who owns it, Witte said.
For a while, Witte thought the bird might fall prey to a nocturnal predator. He didn’t receive any calls for 3-4 days and began to think it had. The calls resumed yesterday, however. He believes it roosts in trees at night, he said.
The peacock is “not at all” dangerous and “hasn’t been hurting anything,” Witte said.
For now, he remains “on the lam,” Witte said.
“This is a new one,” the veteran wild animal wrangler said. “I’ve never handled a peacock before.”
Anyone with information about the ownership of the peacock should call Witte at 592-9265 or the Maine Warden Service at 287-8000.