Johannesburg - It was love at first site for lonely peahen Gloria and a sad peacock Romeo after being rescued on the same day by the Owl Rescue Centre, based in Hartbeespoort.
She was roaming aimlessly and noticeably stressed and Gloria’s caretakers called the rescue centre in the hopes of her being able to find new friends elsewhere. She had been living alone at a residential house in a suburb east of Pretoria for the past couple of years.
Ironically, a few minutes later the centre received a call to rescue a peacock about 75km away at a residential suburb in Johannesburg.
He too had been living alone for a while.
The rescue team usually travels with one large wildlife carrier but decided to place Gloria and Romeo together on the road trip to their new home on a farm.
If they had niggles with each other then they would be separated but what happened next was exceedingly surprising.
Danelle Murray, co-founder, and media relations officer for the Owl Rescue Centre, tells the tale of the two love birds.
“We received a call from a gentleman in Pretoria who told us that the peahen had pitched up at his place and he took care of her.
He called us because she was lonely and thought it would be better to put her with others. When we went out to rescue her, she was quite stressed and didn’t want to be in the box.
A little while later we received a call from someone in Johannesburg saying there was a lonely peacock. We usually don’t use the containers, which are quite large, for more than one rescue but we put them in together. Gloria’s demeanour immediately changed. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and the next minute they were cuddling.
“The two were in the same scenario, both were lonely and maybe had lost their partners. They didn’t fight and she was just waiting for someone to come. She was in heaven when she saw him.”
The adult birds were taken to a farm in Lanseria which has a nature reserve. “They remain together, in love and are no longer lonely. They are just like humans in need of love and company,” said Murray.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE