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A Peacock for a Pet?
05-09-08 05:11
PORT BYRON, Illinios -- When you think of people's pets...you think of dogs, cats, fish...maybe even a bird. But one Port Byron couple has a pet bird that's anything but traditional...and it's got the town talking.
If you listen very carefully outside of Donna and Bob Wilson's home...you may just hear the strange sound of their pet defending his territory.
"(squawk) There he is. In the spring he does it a lot. They had him on the radio the other day...squawking," says Donna.
The squawking star is, Oscar, a wild peacock who stopped roaming and made his home in the Wilson's bird sanctuary 4 years ago.
"I think he found the bird feed and he just likes this hillside because there's plenty of cover. My husband named him and why he called him Oscar I don't know. I call him pee brain," she laughs. "He's stubborn. He has his own ways and you don't change it," says Donna.
Oscar must've settled in the right town. One of the local watering holes is named after him...Peacock's Tavern. Many belly up to the bar, for not only a drink, but also a chance to ask about Oscar.
"They ask, have you seen the peacock? I haven't, so I just point up to (my stuffed one)," says Cheryl O'Neil, Peacock Tavern Owner.
Donna loves Oscar like any of her other pets...her and her husband even built Oscar a beefed-up bird house and leave him plenty of edible love.
"Bread and all kinds of crackers, cheese crackers and he gets a treat every once in a while he gets an Oreo. We really like him, we enjoy him, everyone that sees him likes him," says Donna.
Donna says it's been a great four years with Oscar and she and her husband hope to have many more years in store with their peacock Oscar.
"He's been across the road a couple times and I worry about that, but basically he stays right here on this hillside. He likes us, he hangs around us a lot. We'll be sitting out on the deck and he'll jump up on the bench and sit there and do whatever," says Donna.
Source: wqad.com
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