The guinea fowl that escaped. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 30: Tata zoo officials were sent on a wild chase after a guinea fowl escaped from the Pet Park at 10 am on Thursday.

Harried officials spent the whole day trying to guide the pheasant back to its enclosure and finally succeeded early this morning.

M.S. Jain, director of Tata Steel Zoological Park (TSZP) told The Telegraph that they finally applied the “vocalising trick” to track the guinea fowl.

“Though the search was tiresome, we had a fantastic experience. I don’t think such a case has ever taken place here,” he added.

Four guinea fowls, along with rabbits, pigeons and turkeys, were taken out of their enclosures and put inside the new Pet Park on Thursday morning for acclimatisation.

One of the pheasants, a male, which had been procured three years ago from Patna zoo, got a little confused in his new surroundings and flew out of the enclosure crossing the Marine Drive, which runs along the zoo.

“We sent the zoo attendants and gardeners to chase and guide the bird back to its enclosure. Finally, we had to apply the vocalising trick. We took another male guinea fowl along with us. The twitter of the pheasant we carried made his counterpart respond from inside the water filter plant of the Subernarekha, which flows nearby,” he added.

Though officials managed to guide the bird back to the zoo premises on Thursday afternoon, the drama was not over. The pheasant perched atop a tree inside the Pet Park, refusing to come down.

“We went home after posting a guard to keep a watch on the bird,” said an official, adding the pheasant was a favourite for streams of children who visit the zoo.

The pheasant flew down near its enclosure inside the Pet Park early morning today, much to the relief of the zoo authorities. It was immediately guided inside the enclosure.