Dunfermline: Peacocks in Pittencrieff Park volunteers lay bird who was killed in attack to rest

Volunteers at the Glen aviary told the Press last week that, despite the devastating mental impact of May's attack at the aviary, which left one of the peacocks, Malcolm, dead,and another, Louis, badly injured, they had been "gobsmacked" by support.

The £16,000 will go towards refurbishing much of the building where the now 18 birds are taken care of, and where Malcolm is now buried.

There are 30 people who help at the site regularly, though none spend more time there than Suzi Ross and Carlyn Cane, who both spent night and day checking in on the peacocks in the months which followed the attack.

Now they say that they have finally been given closure having Malcolm back in the Glen, where they laid him to rest last week and are planning to display a plaque in his memory.

"I am at the angry stage now with what happened, now that we've got Malcolm and he's home and he's safe, we can all get on with things," Suzi explained.

"It was hard, I hadn't grieved because we had to be stronger for all the others, we have a lot of young kids who come in and help out so you had to be strong for them.

"I knew that as soon as we picked him up and we put him into his crib that was me, that hit me, and then we got him home and buried him that night."

Carlyn, who volunteers on top of training as a nurse, said that they had both experienced "months and months" of grief due to not knowing whether they would be able to have Malcolm back.

She says that there will "never be an end to it" but that they have now been able to take a step forward.

"It's the closing of something terrible," Suzi added.

"I had him since he was four-years-old and I reared him, my brother was the manager of the park, he brought him in from four-weeks-old, five-weeks-old and he reared him from there.

"Your head just can't get round it, you can't fathom it, I don't think we will ever figure it out."

Malcolm was the oldest bird living in the aviary at 11-years-old, he had arthritis and left the roost rarely, he was one of the original birds who lived there when Suzi took over.

She has since built the Glen's peacock population back up, having reared chicks and even rescued several from unsuitable homes.

When the attack happened, Suzi, who said that Malcolm was the mildest, most patient bird, was the first on site, immediately calling Carlyn to break the news.

It was then that they decided that they would keep Louis' care between the two of them, after he was left with life-threatening injuries.

"Louis needed a lot of tending to, his neck wounds cleaned, his leg wounds cleaned, he was on antibiotics and painkillers morning and night so we were up here all day and back up at night, we could be here 9am-4pm, go home, and be back up here at 7pm," Carlyn said.

"We tried to keep it, because of everything that he went through, just to Suzi and I.

"He got used to the two of us patching him and tending to his wounds and I think that helped keep him calm, but the impact on us was horrific, we were never home, we were exhausted, we were constantly worried.

"We must have thought on at least three occasions that he wasn't going to make it because it was one step back after another, after another.

"The other birds were all affected, the outside roost, they wouldn't go back in it."

Louis experienced trauma to his neck and leg, with Suzi saying that she had found him covered in blood.

"Because people didn't see how hurt he was, I don't think the majority realised the severity, how much of an impact it really made," she added.

"I don't think we will ever really be able to explain, a lot of people are angry because of what happened, we're all angry about that, but I want to know why they (those responsible for the attack) were like that, what was going through their heads when they did this to a bird.

"Malcolm was riddled with arthritis, he was old, he couldn't move, he wouldn't have been able to get out of the way, why pick on something which wouldn't be able to fight back?"

And it has been a team effort to get everyone through the past few months, as the events haunted their minds.

Suzi added: "We do talk a lot, we are all close here.

"It is just recently that I have started sleeping more, I haven't been able to sleep, even after we got the CCTV put in I am still sitting, thinking, OK, we have CCTV but that's not protecting the birds.

"It's one of those things which you have to get accustomed to.

"Things have changed for me since we got Malcolm home and we buried him and he's at peace, since then I have changed, I have relaxed a lot more.

"Louis is 100 per cent fit now, the only problem we have with him is mental, we went and got a chicken harness and lead and we are going to stick it on him to try and get him out the cage and get him outside.

"He will not come out the back door."

She vowed that the group would hold a memorial every year in Malcolm's memory, and spoke of her plans to take one of the birds into nearby schools, both primary and secondary, to educate pupils.

"If they go naturally, it's hard at the time but you get over it, they never get forgotten about, but you get over it," she explained.

"Something like this, we will never get over it, we will never allow for anybody to forget."

At the time, Dunfermline teacher Melanie Sorbie set up a GoFundMe page, which Suzi says they had hoped originally would make enough to cover vet bills.

"We were gobsmacked at £16,000, that is a ridiculous amount of money," she said.

"We knew we had a good following but it went global, we've had money sent from Texas and Mexico.

"Put it this way, we'll never have to worry about the birds again."

As well as donations from businesses such as Taylor Wimpey, who will overhaul the outside enclosure, and CS Vision, who installed CCTV, work can now begin to heat the outside roost, paint the nursery, and place a large sand bath and roosting bars in the courtyard.

The volunteers also said that the inside areas would be damp-proofed and re-painted, and that the anti-bacterial resin floor will be replaced.

With no heating in the building, except from in the nursery, and limited electricity points, they say they will also be looking for ways to keep the peacocks warm in the winter.