Thanks to the quick thinking of one Boston police officer and an electronic mating call, a peacock that had escaped from the Franklin Park Zoo was captured in Roxbury Monday morning, police said.
Around 6 a.m., officers on patrol in Roxbury were approached by a concerned citizen, who told them an animal had escaped from the zoo, Boston police said in a statement.
“Additional officers arrived at the scene and were met by an extremely large, slightly intimidating, and quite beautiful, male peacock,” police said in the statement.
Using his cellphone to look up a peacock mating call, an officer lured the bird into a fenced-in yard and waited for the Boston Animal Control and zoo officials to arrive, police said. With the help of the police, Zoo New England members were able to capture the peacock and return him to the zoo, where he is “doing well," zoo officials said.
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Peacocks at the zoo are free-roaming, but it’s possible that this bird, named Snowbank, was on a mission when he made his escape, according to Zoo New England. A zoo resident since 2013, the 6-year-old Snowbank prefers to spend his nights in a large tree, which may have allowed him to find his way out.
“This morning, instead of flying down onto zoo grounds, he flew outside of the gate, where he began his adventure,” zoo officials said. “It is currently mating season, and it’s possible he ventured out looking for love, in search of a peahen,” a female peacock.
Matt Berg can be reached at matthew.berg@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattberg33.