One Of The Peacocks At The Calgary Zoo Got Eaten By Lions

"Unfortunately it did not end up well for the peacock."

A peacock at the Calgary Zoo died this month after getting eaten by two lions.

Kerstin Joensson / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

According to the zoo, staff were moving the peacocks into their indoor habitats for the winter when one of the birds flew away from the handlers and "managed to fly into the lion habitat," according to a statement from the zoo.

"Unfortunately it did not end up well for the peacock as our two male lions were quick to notice the visitor," the zoo said. "The peacock did not survive."

The zoo announced the peacock death in an innocuously titled Nov. 9 press release — "Peacock Update" — and it did not come to wider attention until about a week later.

“It’s not normal peacock behaviour that a bird would fly that high and that far into a habitat,” zoo spokesperson Trish Exton-Parder told the Calgary Herald.

“To go as high as it did over a building is a feat in itself.”

Apparently it's not uncommon for birds to become food for some of the zoo's predators after flying into the wrong enclosure, but usually the victims are geese or ducks.

This is the second time the zoo has lost a peacock this year. A wild fox killed another of the birds in April.

The remaining six peacocks have all moved inside for the year, where they can mourn their fallen comrades and plot revenge for the spring.