Pink flamingos now extinct at Glenmore Landfill

KELOWNA – There isn’t usually much appealing about the city dump, but maybe that’s exactly why people have noticed it has lost some of its plumage.

For at least the last four years, a number of pink flamingo lawn ornaments, often dressed in holiday garb for Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day, offered a small whimsical welcome to the wasteland of the Glenmore Landfill.

No wonder people have noticed when they were removed.

Liam Park says he went to the landfill earlier this week to find the flamboyant flamingos gone and the landfill employee who maintained the birds down in the dumps, so to speak.

“The lady who did them sounded kind of defeated but did say a lot of the landfill regulars are also sad to see them go,” Park added. "It may seem silly or trivial but I find it offensive that our city considers it a priority to eliminate this small, artistic and funny piece of humanity from the otherwise grue'ling work of taking stuff to the dump."

City of Kelowna communications manager Tom Wilson said landfill administration had removed the birds which were showing a lot of wear and tear.

“The flamingos had their day in the sun and were falling apart,” Wilson said. “So they've been retired to Miami.”

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