Peacock update

Above: Stock photo online

"Percy", as the next door neighbors named "him", seems to have moved on to greener rooftops. I received a call from an aviary staff member this morning. She reported that all three of their male adolescent peacocks are "accounted for". However, there is a peahen (female "peacock") that has been at large for about four weeks. The aviary staff member told me that often they will leave the aviary searching for nesting places. I last saw "Persephone" last evening roosting high up in our huge box elder tree. The aviary staff member requested that I call the aviary if I see her again. In today's local on-line news, I ran across this article about the elephant who regularly escaped from the zoo (when it was in the same location as the current aviary). It is this event aviary Director made reference to while chatting with me on the phone last night...

Above: Photo of Princess Alice and young son, Prince Utah

In 1931, Alice the elephant often escaped from her enclosure at the zoo in Liberty Park.
Alice wandered along 700 East in Salt Lake City, sometimes into yards of local residences.
The Zoo’s director was so frustrated with Alice’s propensity to ‘wear on her back an odd assortment of clothing from the neighborhoods’ clotheslines ”that he likened it to ‘vandalism’ as quoted in a local newspaper article.

Eventually, this frustration lead to discussions about a new location for the Zoo as well as a new enclosure for Princess Alice, the Asian elephant.
She was eventually relocated to Hogle Zoo and if you look carefully within the zoo you will find a stone carving of her still present today. Sources: Hogle Zoo History