- AZA zoo has animal escape for 24 hours, injuries several people.

Last Wednesday night, after escaping and attacking a man on the sidewalk, a peacock thought to be from the Bronx Zoo caused quite the spectacle.

The peacock is thought to be one of the hundreds of free-roaming birds that the zoo has, according to officials. According to officials, this specific animal returned to the zoo of its own free will on Thursday morning.

"We kept an eye on the bird this morning as he started to move around at dawn and fully expected him to return to the zoo as he did," said Max Pulsinelli, who oversees communications for the Bronx and other Wildlife Conservation Society zoos and aquariums. "We trusted our understanding of avian behavior to forecast how he would act naturally if given the option to do so. We had faith in the capability of our staff to manage the circumstance.

However, the good Samaritan who discovered the peacock on the sidewalk on Wednesday night did not. He claimed that as he tried to assist, he was pecked.

A short while later, police and firefighters arrived; the FDNY confirmed that they had been called in response to a report of an animal bite and had treated the man there.

The man who came into contact with the bird wasn't seriously harmed, and he seemed to recover OK.

It just began to gallop up the hill into oncoming cars. We had to make an effort to keep the bird secure, you know. The man said, "We chased him, I caught him within the fence, he got tired of the gate and tried to peck me.

According to zoo officials, the animal bit a person who attempted to feed it on Wednesday night. The locals gave the bird, named Raul, a fun name and watched him fly through the air. He moved to a higher tree near the former West Farms Soldiers Cemetery from a tree at Videlia Playground before taking flight to an even higher rooftop near the zoo.

According to the USDA, the regulations of birds were added to it’s authority earlier this year.