Save our beloved Bilambil Peacock

Thank you for supporting our peacock here in Bilambil. Known to us locals here in the valley as 'Kevin'.

Last week, Kevin was hit by a car and lucky for Kevin and us all, some locals found him and got him to veterinarian care that morning. Luckily Kevin had no internal injuries and only a broken leg. His leg is now healing successfully, and we are fund raising to cover the costs.

We are hoping to raise $7000 in total to cover all vet bills, transport, housing and caring for Kevin until he is ready to return to the wild. (Mostly our front porches).

As of today, we have raised $2500 from cash donations. We hope now to raise the remaining $4500 through GoFundMe.

Below are the posts that have been lovingly sent out via our Facebook Group 'The Bilambil Grapevine' by Julie.

----------KEVIN UPDATE No.7----------

Thursday 14th March

Thank you to the local gent who took Kevin to his Brisbane appointment yesterday. I had a family staying and was unable to.

The Vet is very happy with Kevin's progress, but our boy will be confined for four weeks to heal before he's x-rayed again and hopefully the leg frame is removed and we can release him.

Giving Kevin his 'meds' is a bit stressful for him, so once he's finished those, we'll have children up to visit.

Please don't forget the GoFundMe. Every single dollar helps hugely.

----------VET UPDATE KEVIN----------

Wednesday 6th March

The Brisbane Vets love Kevin and have nicknamed him “Kevin O7”. ‍

The surgeon said things are great but also not so great regarding our boy.

He has come through the operation extremely well and has a long pin inserted vertically through the bone.

Three ‘bolts’ attach horizontally through that vertical pin, to an outer, metal casing that is bandaged and will eventually be removed. Like a bionic leg.

What concerns them is that despite a good blood supply to Kevin’s toes, the nerves in them are not responding well.

Hopefully this is due to bruising and swelling from either the accident or operation, which is understandable and will go down.

That is important to him returning to us.

In the meantime, Kevin has been enjoying the morphine way, way too much and is so peaced ☮️ out, that he hasn’t even been trying to use his leg, which is crucial to healing.

Instead, he just lies on his legs and chills.

They are going to reduced Kevin’s morphine. ‍♀️‍♀️‍♀️ Poor baby.

Tomorrow David will collect the donation tins, and with an independent witness to assist us and oversee, count the funds.

An old school friend of mine donated $400 directly into our bank account this week for Kevin, and we are withdrawing that today and depositing it with the donations. Thankyou Rex Duncan.

If it turns out we don’t have enough to meet the bills and bring Kevin home, we will start a GoFundMe.

Tomorrow I will post the recovery plan for Kevin, including children’s visits to see him, and the following day I’ll post the results of the donations and a contest for children to name Kevin’s partner.

Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Services

Currumbin Valley Birds, Reptiles & Exotics Vet

Terranora Veterinary Clinic

----------KEVIN’S STORY (Update No.5)----------

The first time we saw Kevin was 22nd November 2019.

He was the first wild peacock to ever visit Bilambil.

My husband, David grew up on a 500 acre dairy farm at Piggabeen that backs onto Tomewin Rd. He said it was common to have maybe 50 peacocks, peahens and pea chicks roaming the dairy farm, as they ate the left over grain fed to the cows and pigs. David explained also that the birds had originated at a peacock sanctuary at Currumbin that shut down some time in the late 7Os early 8Os.

The peacocks were forced to adapt when the dairy farm could no longer profit against the supermarkets, and over 3O years, have slowly moved further out. Kevin was the first and the bravest. How blessed we all are that Kevin chose our village to make his home. Things like a peacock arriving at your door just don’t happen.

During 2019, 2020 and 2021 we all had to get used to his loud honk (mainly just on dusk) during the spring and summer months, when his tail was full, and he called out, hoping, unsuccessfully to find a mate.

Then in November/December 2022 we started to see her.

Kevin had communicated to his mate that we were trustworthy and she chose Bilambil to lay her first eggs. In January 2023 she brought her 4 chicks to visit us all and gradually introduced them to the village. Only one survived that first lay, a male. (One chick is buried at our place.) The young prince still visits us all and is getting big, but his tail is not yet full and his colour isn’t as bright as Kevin’s.

Last December she lay again, and she is presently introducing her three remaining chicks to the village. The young Prince, but mostly Kevin protects them, although mama’s pretty feisty too.

Our Kevin is certainly special. Thank you all, from the bottom of my soul, for your generosity of spirit and funds, to save Bilambil’s Kevin.

----------Kevin Update No.4----------

Saturday Morning. Kevin ate something this morning! Woohoo! Many thanks to those people who have donated at Bilambil Post Office/ Store, at the bottom of the hill, for Kevin’s pending operation. We will sort donation tins for Bilambil Heights on Monday.

Kevin needs the operation because he is a big, heavy bird and with a broken leg he would be unable to survive. Penny and Peter told us Kevin was intelligent and knew he was being helped by them.

We’ll collect the Currumbin invoice on Monday morning when we pick up Kevin from Peter and Penny, to head to the big bird hospital in Brisbane. Currumbin Valley Birds, Reptiles & Exotics Vet

----------Peacock Update No.3----------

----------Peacock Update No.2----------

Friday night 1st March

It appears Kevin has no internal injuries, however he won’t eat due to pain and shock.

The break is repairable… probably by pinning it to external framing that Kevin would have to wear on his leg. That framing however needs to be built and attached in Brisbane and is very expensive.

Peter and Penny at Currumbin will nurse him in their hospital until Monday, when my husband and I will pick Kevin up, and take him to his appointment in Greenslopes at the Brisbane Birds and Exotics Vet. We have had to guarantee payment, which we can’t… but we did. As a village, if we don’t raise enough to pay Currumbin and Brisbane vets, we will do a GoFundMe.

If Kevin’s leg is pinned, the healing process will be very quick.

As of tomorrow morning, there will be a donation jar at Bilambil Post Office Store in the Valley.

They have already received a donation from a child who tried to write Kevin’s name on the envelope. That is so precious I could cry.

Let’s look after our boy.

----------Peacock Update No.1----------

Thursday 29th February

(Kevin was found Thursday morning and luckily rushed to a local wildlife rescue team who took him to the Currumbin vets)