By Kimberly
Hickok, Staff Writer | June 28, 2018 10:06am ET
It's
incredibly rare to catch a glimpse of an African flamingo on the Texas coast,
but if you do, it's definitely Flamingo No. 492. The conspicuous pink bird has
been on the run from the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, since escaping
13 years ago. Sightings of No. 492 have been rare, but the fugitive flamingo
was spotted last month in Lavaca Bay, Texas, about halfway between Houston and
Corpus Christi,The
New York Times reported.
No.
492, along with 39 other flamingos, was sent to the Sedgwick County Zoo from
Tanzania in 2003. Typically, zoos prevent flamingos from flying by amputating a
part of their wing when they are newborns — a part that hasn't yet developed
sensation. But the flamingos from Tanzania arrived at the zoo as adults, so
curators there decided to clip the birds' feathers instead, as a more humane
solution to keep the animals grounded, the Times reported. [In
Photos: On the Lam: 10 of the Greatest Animal Escape Artists]
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