Peacocks delight generations at Cape County Memorial Park

Visitors to Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery since the 1970s have been able to see something not usually expected in a graveyard -- peacocks.

Office manager Barbara Rushing said the birds have been on the property longer than the 28 years she has been working at the cemetery. She said it is not unusual for people to come by "on and off all day" in the summer to feed and admire them. They've been around long enough that people who saw them when they were children bring their grandchildren to visit, Rushing said.

Superintendent Clark Daniels is one of those grandparents. He has worked at Cape County Memorial Park for 31 years and he and the other groundskeepers are responsible for the four peahens and two peacocks that live in a large pen next to the cemetery office. He said they are easy to keep and that during the many years he has cared for them, only about six have been added to the flock. In the past, there were more peafowl than there are now, and Daniels said they'd like to have a few more.

Peafowl are not the only birds that have been kept there, Daniels said. Pheasant, turkey, fan-tailed pigeons, quail, ducks, "Oriental Fluffies" and ring-necked pigeons have all resided in the park, he said. For a short time, another small creature was introduced to the mix.

"We did rabbits. That didn't work out well for us," said Daniels, explaining that they burrowed out of the pen and became too numerous to manage.

Dr. William Eddleman, professor of biology at Southeast Missouri State University, specializes in birds and edits the Quarterly Journal of the Audubon Society of Missouri. He estimated peafowl could live 15 to 20 years in captivity with really good care, though eight to 12 years would be more likely. He compared keeping them to keeping chickens.

Mildred Strom sold the cemetery to the current owner, Kevin Ford of Ford and Sons Funeral Home, in 1985. She and her husband, Ted Strom, bought it from his father around 1970, she said.

"My late husband and father-in-law thought it would be so nice to have peacocks there," Mildred Strom said. "The people enjoyed them so very much, to see them strut around."

The original birds were ordered from a supplier and roamed the property until the highway expanded to four lanes. Strom said her husband installed a feed vending machine and would give the money earned to the students who attended the school for handicapped children that was across the street, on the land that is now Cape County Park North. She said he was delighted to receive handmade Christmas gifts in return.

"It's been a nice attraction for the kids," Strom said. "My late husband just loved kids."

The peacocks are on view during daylight hours seven days a week and feed can be purchased for 25 cents. Cemetery office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

salderman@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address:

2315 Kingshighway N, Cape Girardeau, MO