Pretty as a Peacock: Lowell's Boat Shop Builds Dwelling for Rescued Birds
by Caitlin Dee
WEST NEWBURY (The Daily News, April 10, 2026)— Thanks to the work of Lowell’s Boat Shop apprentices, two rescued peacocks will soon have a new, permanent dwelling at Poore Farm Sanctuary in West Newbury.
Perdita (L) and Pongo (R) in their temporary dwelling at Poore Farm Sanctuary (Photo: Anne Bryant)
Recently, the private farm animal sanctuary run by Bethany Groff Dorau, the executive director of the Museum of Old Newbury, and her husband, took in two peacocks, Pongo and Perdita, named after characters from the movie “101 Dalmations”.
Poore Farm Sanctuary houses a myriad of farm animals, some that have lived happy lives and others that have dealt with trauma.
Unfortunately, Pongo and Perdita had suffered from the latter, and were victims of accidental neglect before being rescued by another animal sanctuary.
However, that sanctuary could not keep the peafowl on a long term basis, and eventually were connected with Poore Farm which had previously taken in another peacock.
Poore Farm agreed to take in the birds and became Pongo and Perdita’s new home, with Groff Dorau providing them with a safe, temporary shelter.
However, Groff Dorau said she knew the pair needed a more permanent space to live in that suited their needs.
So, she reached out to Graham McKay, executive director of Lowell’s Boat Shop in Amesbury, who said his apprentices could build a peacock run for the birds composed of an outdoor pen and a smaller enclosed space.
The partnership turned out to be a valuable one, with Groff Dorau providing the funding for the materials and Lowell’s apprentices crafting the space for free, gaining experience along the way.
“They’re just learning, and this is a different kind of building project for them, which is good. It’s not as fussy as boat building, and so it moves along a lot quicker,” McKay said of the work apprentices are doing on the peacock run.
For the last two weeks, the apprentices have been working hard on the structure at the boat shop, and this week they will bring what they have constructed to the farm and assemble it on site.
Apprentices assembling the peacock run at Poore Farm Sanctuary. (Photo: Bethany Groff Dorau)
Groff Dorau praised McKay and the apprentices for the work they are doing to help out the birds.
“Graham is a dear friend of mine, and Lowell’s Boat Shop is a wonderful, incredible museum and it does so much for the community,” she said.
McKay said Lowell’s is happy to give back to Poore Farm the way that other organizations have given back to them.
“In our case, certainly in the last several years, I would say the local nonprofits that we do have in this community step up to help each other out quite a bit. And so, when somebody asks for something that we can provide, we try to provide it, and vice versa. And, so there’s a wonderful symbiotic relationship going on with the nonprofit resources in the community,” he said.
Groff Dorau also said many other community members have been generous in this endeavor.