The English Jasper Coppings from Shotesham recently has a running partner when he goes jogging. But it is not a friend or colleague who accompanies him, it is… a wild pheasant. “Why he is running is a mystery to me,” says Coppings. “He is always waiting for me when I come near his pasture. Then he walks with me until I disappear and waits until I return to do the same. It’s bizarre.” Because they have been walking together for two weeks, the Briton gave the pheasant the name Fez. “When I see him in the morning, I shout: ready to go, Fez?”
The Englishman is far from the only jogger that Fez will run with. Other villagers also enjoy the pheasant’s company. “The last time I saw him I was a bit ashamed. Another runner had heard me talking to Fez,” says Coppings. “But when I explained the situation, the woman said she was just in the same boat. She had apparently been walking with him for some time.”
Man pops champagne bottle, but it costs the passing bird dearly