The Oak Park Peacock and the Sea Lion

Over the weekend a bunch of people in Oak Park reported seeing a peacock strutting it stuff through their neighborhood (nice piece by Channel 7 btw).

We learned the peacock lived at the Detroit Zoo - a free range animal that occasionally jumps the fence (especially during mating season). The Oak Park peacock was rounded up and returned to the zoo, where it was last seen putting on axe body spray and heading for Royal Oak on a vespa. You gotta let him fly!

It’s amazing how calm we get when we see wild animals in Detroit (and the surrounding area). Remember the story of the pig loose on seven mile a couple of years ago? Or the cattle loose on I-75 in Holly (and the guy who rounded it up). I’ve had deer in our backyard, Ryan’s had skunks under his house in Livonia, hell we had a 10 point buck at the front door of the radio station. And we’re all calm and deal with it. Maybe “Detroit vs Everybody” applies to animals as well? 

All these animal stories brought back a great memory of my Dad and the sea lion at Marineland out in California. I was a little kid (maybe six) and Dad took me to Marineland to see the animals (I love otters and seals and whales and dolphins and…you get the picture). 

There was this really cool sea lion enclosure that you were above, looking down on them sunning on giant rocks. They also sold fish to toss to the sea lions - and they’d make these hilarious noises…insisting on more and more fish (ever seen a sea lion in person? They’re not into the no-carb thing). 

Well my dad fed them at least three paper trays of fish - then leaned over and said (I remember this vividly) “sorry buddy, I’m all out”. Almost immediately the sea lion spit what felt like 3 million gallons of water onto my dad - drenching him from head to toe. Now my Dad was a pretty relaxed guy, but I held my breath as he stood there - maybe he was just going to freak out. But he didn’t. Just this deep laugh as the sea lion went back to it’s rock. 

Weird how certain stories bring back a rush of memories. That’s the Oak Park peacock and the sea lion.

For the record, when I drive on the access road from 696 past the Detroit Zoo auxiliary entrance I still expect to see animals driving into work (like in Zootopia). Hey, it could happen. Just keep an eye out for a peacock on a vespa in Royal Oak.