Byfield, MA – Thanks to a kind, retired high school science teacher in Newbury, the still missing runaway peacock has been safely reunited with its owner in Byfield. After the pair of peacocks, who go by the names of Donald and Daisy, went missing, owner T.J. Martin feared the worst. They don’t cuddle, they don’t sit on your lap, and they certainly don’t play with tennis balls, but these two peacocks are still considered this household’s family pets. Martin acquired Donald and Daisy from a friend, and kept them in a coop on his property. Just weeks after getting them, they both managed to escape the coop.
Daisy was found just hours after Martin noticed they were missing, but as the days turned into weeks, Donald was still out there somewhere. As it turns out, Donald was found by Dave Taylor, a retired high school science teacher from Triton Regional School District. When Taylor found him, he clipped his wings so he couldn’t fly away, and placed him in the courtyard of the high school until it could be determined who he belonged to or where he came from. At first, Taylor said he thought the peacock may have escaped from a nearby zoo or botanical institution, since he thought it uncommon that he would have been someone’s pet.
When the story hit the news about Taylor finding a lost peacock, neighbors and friends of Martin began calling him with the possibility that it may be Donald! Martin couldn’t have acted faster, as he quickly drove to Triton, where he discovered that yes, the missing peacock was in fact his family pet and Daisy’s companion, Donald! Instead of bringing him home right away, Martin is going to be fixing his damaged coop to prevent the peacocks from being able to escape again. For now, they are staying at one of Martin’s friends working farms, where there is plenty of room for them to roam around.
Another twist to this strange story of the lost peacocks is that Taylor and Martin actually knew each other, but haven’t seen each other in years. It turns out that Taylor was Martin’s seventh grade science teacher! What a small world!
