A flamingo on the run from a zoo in Wichita, Kansas for 17 years was recently spotted in Texas. No. 492 and its boyfriendNo. 347, escaped from Sedgwick County Zoo in 2005. While No. 347 has since disappeared, No. 492, nicknamed Pink Floyd by Texas officials, has been a frequent visitor from the Lone Star State. The famous fugitive latest sighting, published online March 28, 2022 by the Texas Coastal Fisheries Division, is making headlines around the world.
Jackson County resident David Foreman noticed the elegant, long-legged bird while fishing near Port Lavaca on the Gulf Coast of Texas on March 10, 2022. ‘I was expecting to see a pod of eastern white pelicans, come here for the winter’, said Foreman the Guardian. Instead, he was treated to something that looked like a “beanbag ball sitting on one leg.”
Foreman became aware of the audacity of Pink Floyd to delay after posting the pictures on social networks. “That’s when people started saying to me, ‘Oh, that’s probably that flamingo that got away,'” he said. the presentiment been confirmed by Texas Parks and Wildlife officials. Experts say that even though Foreman couldn’t see the flamingo tag, they are confident it was Pink Floyd.
Pink Floyd was one of the 40 greatest flamingos – the most widespread and the biggest species of the flamingo family – brought to the Kansas Zoo from Tanzania in the early 2000s. The birds, aged three to five, were all adults. Therefore, Sedgwick County Zoo staff decided to garnish their wings – as if they were having their hair cut – rather than having them surgically removed as is done with newborns.
However, in 2005 officials were a bit slow to clip the wings, allowing #347 and #492 to take flight and escape. No. 347, which flew north toward Michigan, was only seen once and is believed to have died in winter. Pink Floyd, which headed south, has been seen numerous times in Wisconsin, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. In 2006 and 2007, the escapee even found a companion – a West Indian”refugee“Flamingo that probably arrived in the United States from Mexico during hurricanes Rita and Katrina. However, the two seemed to have since gone their separate ways.
Despite the frequent observations, the specifics of Pink Floyd’s journey to the midwestern states of the south remain a mystery. As unclear is his sex And age. While zoo officials suspect Pink Floyd is a man in his twenties, no facts have been checked. The good news is that they have no intention of bringing the run away flamingo in Kansas.
Jennica King, spokeswoman for the Sedwick County Zoo, said: “We decided early on, once he flew to Texas, that we would not make any effort that might potentially harm it or harm the wildlife around it.”
Resources: Smithsonianmag.com, NPR.com, theguardian.com
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