Pretty as a peacock

This story was featured in the July 2022 edition of Sandusky Living magazine. If you're interested in purchasing a copy, call the Register at 419-502-2130 while supplies last. Ravens guard the Tower of London. Swallows return each spring to San Juan Capistrano. But they pale when compared to the peacocks at the Ohio Veterans Home. Donated to the grounds of the care facility around the 1920s, the birds have been in residence ever since due to provisions of food and a pen where they can roost, OVH Superintendent Ross Matlack said. Though they can fly out of the large courtyard where they stay, the male peacocks and female peahens continue to make themselves comfortable. "It is a unique feature here," Matlack said about the birds. "This is their home, too. They're free to leave, but they never go anywhere." The superintendent recalled an amusing story about them. On his third day in his position at OVH, Matlack said, he heard what he thought was a distinct cry for assistance. "I heard this, 'Help!'" Upon further investigation, the perceived distress call had simply been the call of a peacock, which had sounded remarkably similar to human speech. Jeff Rapp, chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs, had his own funny anecdote. He recounted the experience of a member of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, attached to the Ohio governor's security detail. While the governor visited OVH, the patrol member noticed a peacock coming toward her, out of the corner of her eye. "I've never seen as much panic in someone who is that capable of taking care of herself," Rapp said. Because conditions are so suitable for the birds, they reproduce efficiently, Matlack said. "Sometimes their population becomes too great," he said, adding that he often has to explain to concerned community members that the extra birds are normally sent to area farms. "No, we don't kill them."