Spooked peacock hooks up with turkey gang

By SHERI McWHIRTER
smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

October 01, 2008 12:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- It's a good thing there's no peacock season in Michigan.

Sue Rehmann of Grand Traverse County's East Bay Township lost her peacock and desperately wants him back.

"It's their beauty. We like to have beautiful things on the farm," she said.

Rehmann raises a host of exotic animals on her 42-acre farm along Smith Road -- Silkie chickens from Japan, Friesian horses from Holland, a Nigerian dwarf goat and a miniature Nubian goat, among others -- and bought a pair of peacocks two weekends ago, a male and a female.

The colorful gentleman flew the coop after just two nights in his new digs, leaving the lady all alone.

"He was spooked by one of our Guinea hens, which are really loud. When peacocks get frightened, they go straight up," Rehmann said.

The three-year-old male peacock made his way out the netted enclosure and perched in a large maple tree. He was gone in the morning, she said.

Neighbors spotted the peacock a couple of times since then: once looking at himself in basement-level windows of a nearby vacant house and another time among a flock of wild turkeys.

"We feed the turkeys through the winter, so we hope he'll come back by and see his mate," Rehmann said.

The bird came close to capture when he roosted one night in a maple tree, but the branches stretched out over a large ravine and he couldn't be reached, Rehmann said.

Now she worries the coming turkey hunting season on Oct. 6 might bring harm to her beloved bird as he runs free with a new crowd.

"Please don't shoot him and if anyone captures him, I am willing to make a turkey dinner feast," she said.

In Michigan, it is not legal to shoot peacocks found in the wild, said Lt. Dan Hopkins, conservation officer with the state Department of Natural Resources.

"It's not a game bird and it's private property, so a person who shoots a peacock would be subject to civil liabilities," Hopkins said.

The peacock just came into his full feathers this year, but doesn't have all of them now because he recently molted. The bird is worth about $100.

Rehmann wants anyone who spots the bird to call her at (231) 929-7280 or at (231) 499-2729.

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