WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A flamingo that escaped from the Sedgwick County Zoo in 2005 has been spotted again, this time in Texas.
A Massachusetts birder says the flamingo, known as No. 492 because of the number on its leg band, was seen last week off the Texas Gulf Coast. The bird was with a companion, a Yucatan-born Caribbean flamingo with a band reading “HDNT.”
Two flamingoes escaped from the zoo in Wichita after employees did not clip their wings to prevent them from flying. No. 492 has been spotted many times since then, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. No sightings of the other flamingo have ever been made.
The Wichita Eagle reports No. 492 was born in Africa before being shipped to the Sedgwick County Zoo in 2004 with 39 other flamingos.
