One of two missing Peafowl found

On Thursday this newspaper was contacted, and today (Friday) the Celt was informed by the Reilly family that they had happily been reunited with the male Peacock.

A local family has been reunited with one of two Peafowl, which went missing from their Cavan home last month.

The missing bird was discovered near Gowna, almost 15 kilometres away from the Reilly family's home in Bruskey.

The search for the missing Peafowl had been confined among local farmers and landowners in the Bruskey up until this week when The Anglo-Celt gave the appeal a timely boost through its online readership.

On Thursday this newspaper was contacted, and today (Friday) the Celt was informed by the Reilly family that they had happily been reunited with the male Peacock.

The female Peahen however is still missing.

Since news of the search went viral, potential but unconfirmed sightings have made as far afield as Delvin in Co Westmeath.

The birds belonged to Jamie Reilly (18), but the local family are well-known animal and bird lovers, and in the past have also kept pheasants on their land.

His mum Karen explained that she had always wanted to rear Peafowl after seeing them roam free in the grounds of Lismore House in Crossdoney years ago.

The Reillys from Bruskey had only just purchased the birds, and as per instruction, has kept them in a specially prepared pen for three weeks after in the hope that the birds would successfully acclimate.

“The idea was to keep them in a pen for three weeks to get them use to us, but who knows where they might have travelled by now. Hopefully we'll get them back safe,” said Karen.