Strangers rescue peacock from peril on Victoria street
After living in his downtown Victoria neighbourhood for more than 30 years, David Ferguson says this was a first.
"It’s like seeing a goldfish in a school of black fish," Ferguson says, pointing to where he noticed the peacock wandering along the busy street. "It’s like, what is this doing here?"
Meanwhile, Kirk Van Ludwig was working outside his Autonomous Furniture store when he noticed what seemed like the setup for a joke.
"Why did the peacock cross the road?" Van Ludwigsmiles.
At the same time, Logan Jacobsen was hanging Christmas lights before he started capturing the bold bird on camera.
"There’s a peacock running down the street!" Jacobsen laughs.
But the sense of surreal fun quickly turned to very real fear for the peacock’s safety.
"It was getting tumbled about by the big wheels of the truck," Ferguson says.
"Like any moment it was going to get smoked," Van Ludwig recalls with a wince.
"I didn’t want to see roadkill," Jacobsen says.
That’s when Jacobsen announced he was going to pluck the peacock from his potential peril.
"I said to him, 'Watch your face!'" Ferguson recalls. "I though that bird’s going to poke his eyes out or something."
What Ferguson and Van Ludwig didn’t know was that this was not Jacobsen's first rodeo.
"I grew up catching turkeys and chickens," Jacobsen smiles.
When little Jacobsen wasn’t cuddling cute creatures on his family’s hobby farm, he was practising to be a prolific poultry picker-upper.
"I just wanted to save this peacock’s life I suppose," Jacobsen says. "So I grabbed the bird."
"Then we corralled him into the back gated area behind our studio," Van Ludwig adds.
While Jacobsen and Van Ludwig kept the peacock safe behind a fence, Ferguson started making calls.
He was told the bird had likely wandered far from its home in Beacon Hill Park, but there was no official help available.
"I could have walked away. I felt like it," Ferguson recalls. "But it’s that 'do the right thing moment.'"
So Ferguson asked Jacobsen to pick up the peacock from the enclosure and carry him to his car.
"[Ferguson ] suggested we put the peacock in his PT Cruiser," Van Ludwig says.
With the 'P-T' now standing for 'peacock transportation,' Ferguson committed to cruising the bird back home.
He filmed footage of the peacock peering at him in the rear-view mirror.
"I felt like I was in a French movie," Ferguson smiles. "Instead of a femme fatale, it was a peacock in the back seat."
As the duo drove across the downtown core, Ferguson says the bird pooped once and peered out the window often.
The peacock calmed down after they passed the buildings and approached the trees. When Ferguson parked in the park, the bird popped out of the back door.
"I wanted to hug it or commune with it," Ferguson smiles. "But the bird kept going."
Perhaps he was going to tell his feathered flock a joke that begins with a peacock crossing the road and ends with a punchline about a PT Cruiser and the kindness of strangers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.