Flamingos are n’t an expected pot in Texas , US , but thanks to one animal ’s aspirations , occupier here sometimes pick up a glimpse of the pinkish plume of492 , a flamingo who bunk from a zoo17 age ago . The bird has been on the getaway since 2005 when 492 ( as it was keep down on its leg band ) and a pal skip over out of the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita , Kansas .
The dodging , while successful , was n’t precisely what you ’d call a advanced armed robbery . Unlike the human - remote - controlling law-breaking ofWallace and Gromit’sFeathers McGraw , 492 and their accomplice quite simply fly out of the zoo after keepers leave to trim their feathers .
Birds ’ flight is extremely subject on the wellness and book of their plumage . While young chick can have their wings “ clipped ” as a painless procedure , it ’s not so easy for adult hoot .
Instead of putting 492 and their mountain through the pain in the neck of clipping , the menagerie resolve to just crop a few feathers here and there to render the flying razz flightless and preclude unplanned escape .
In the cause of 492 , it seems the break between “ haircut ” went a small too long as the bird took to the sky and mystify the heck outta ' dodge . There have been several sightings over the 17 years since the flamingos escaped , most recently in Edna , Texas .
flamingo are n’t common here but a likewise pinkish hiss , the rose spoonbill , is . Machinist and fishing guide David Foreman has long been highlighting this distinction to visitors who incorrectly think they ’ve spot a flamingo .
That was , until 10 March , theNYTimes reports , when he took a boat into Port Lavaca . There , on a little stretch of gumption , 492 or “ Pink Floyd ” as it ’s amount to be make love by Texas Parks and Wildlife could be take care in all its long - legged glory .
Spoonbill patter destroy ; Foreman has use up the contradiction in respectable humour .
“ It ’s almost like nature ’s way of put me in my place , ” he said . “ Mr. Knows - Everything mean there ’s no flamingo in Texas ? Have a look at this . ”
The escapee flamingo in the first place hails from Tanzania where they were brought over back in 2004 . While Texas is n’t a place anyone ever ask a flamingo to take up residence , it seems this most recent sighting goes to show that 492 is doing just fine .
Zoo escape like this do happen , but unfortunately , not all fugitives fare so well likeGladys the runaway Eurasian eagle - owlwho may have make out a few pets during her sentence on the ravel …
