A pet peacock that went on a "wild bender" last week through Loundon County, Virginia, has been captured, its owner says.
Kate Hogan posted to the Abernethy & Spencer Greenhouses Facebook page last Wednesday asking for people in the areas of Lucketts, Waterford and Taylorstown to keep their eye out for Chip, who “broke out of bird-jail and is running the town.”
“The only thing he likes more than cat food is sex,” Hogan wrote in the post. “If you see him trying to seduce your cat or hear him screaming from your rooftop, please comment or contact Kelly Rutkowski (private message), who is kindly helping me round him up while I’m out of town.”
Hogan said she and Rutkowski spent hours capturing the allusive bird on Thursday.
"Chip's wild hormone-fueled bender is over: it took five hours, but Kelly and I managed to capture him today!"
But tracking him down wasn't easy. Hogan said in her first post that Chip refuses to respond to his name "despite it being a perfectly nice name.”
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Multiple people had commented that they spotted or heard Chip in recent days.
"Sighted this morning on my way out. He was on loyalty rd around #1435 at about eight am today (Saturday)," one person said.
According to the Loudoun Times-Mirror, Rutkowski said that he was found on a farm on Bald Hill Road near Lucketts, and was last known to be hiding in a tree on the property away from the weekend’s rain.
Other commenters offered advice for how to lure Chip home.
"Grapes are great peacock bait. They love them - put a bowl in a dog kennel and tie a string to door and wait. It won’t take long to catch him!" one commenter wrote.
