Peacock has returned to his coop at restaurant
By Kevin McKenzie (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A peacock named Meatball tasted freedom in the neighborhoods and woods of Germantown for two weeks before some good Samaritans gave him a lift home.

On July 3, Meatball took flight from the lawn and gardens behind the Equestria Restaurant and Lounge on Forest Hill-Irene south of Poplar Pike.

The peacock that took flight from the lawns at the Equestria Restaurant in Germantown a few weeks ago was caught by good Samaritans and returned to the eatery on Friday.


"We saw him take off," said Jonathan Henderson, maitre d' and sommelier at the fine dining establishment.
An inexperienced worker allowed Meatball and another peacock, named Crazy Eyes, out of their pen at the same time.
It's OK to let one male out with the restaurant's nameless female, known as a peahen in the peafowl world.
But letting both males out at the same time was setting up a fight for territory, Henderson said.

On July 4, a caller said the Equestria's peacock was blocking traffic on Forest Hill-Irene, Henderson said.
Other reports followed, including one about a peacock captured and taken to the animal shelter in Collierville. But it wasn't Meatball, a peacock with a crooked foot.

After two weeks on the lamb, er, lam, the fact that the restaurant lost a peacock came together with the fact that one was seen by the Wolf River near Germantown Road, nearly six miles away as the car drives. Some good Samaritans captured Meatball and he ended up back in the coop.

"He's glad to be back home now," Henderson said.

The Equestria sits on about four acres that include gardens that grow enough vegetables to supply 80 percent of the restaurant's needs, he said.

The peafowl, not to mention a couple of ducks, a goose, chickens and a large rooster named Rambo, help supply ambiance to the grounds.
Henderson said he and his brother, general manager Chris Henderson, wanted to add a llama, but the owner, Dennis Scott, vetoed that animal.

Jon "Bird" Armstrong, a peafowl breeder listed in Dickson, Tenn., by the United Peafowl Association, said the birds are relatively popular and mostly sold to people who move from the city to the country and live on a few acres. Peafowl are native to Asia, and Meatball is far luckier than some of his feathered forefathers.

"Ancient royalty ate peacocks, as both an aphrodisiac and prior to battle," Armstrong said.