Animal lover Ronnie Lopes shed tears of joy this week after finally bringing his pet guinea fowl back home almost 12 days after it flew the coop.

“I was like a little kid in a candy store,” Mr Lopes, of Pet Care in Devonshire, from where the bird escaped on May 18.

“I was kissing this thing, hugging him. We had a box to put him in. I thanked everybody who helped, and we got him back to the shop with his loved one.”

Guinea fowls are a family of domesticated birds, native to Africa, that eat seeds, tubers and some insects.

The male, Clyde, showed talent as an escape artist when Mr Lopes was feeding the bird and his mate, Bonnie.

The bird flew from his cage and headed into the marsh across South Road.

Despite knowing exactly where the Clyde had gone to ground nearby on Poinciana Estates, and visiting every day to coax him back, the bird eluded Mr Lopes.

Constant rain also meant the guinea fowl kept ducking for cover.

Mr Lopes tried a net, food and even Bonnie, who recently laid her first egg, to entice him home.

Guinea fowls are often monogamous when the birds pair up.

He said: “I put Bonnie down on the ground on Sunday so she could call her buddy in.

“Clyde came around the corner, doing his little dance and checking her out, but I still could not get him.”

Mr Lopes thanked area residents for trying to capture the bird, which he said had become something of a celebrity courtesy of social media.

Some were even “rooting for him to not get caught” because Clyde had grown “quite popular and like a local legend”.

Mr Lopes was given Bonnie, Clyde and another fowl, Stewie, when they were chicks in the egg, and has kept them as pets since they hatched about seven months ago.

He gave Stewie away after the Ag Show last month.

As time went on, Mr Lopes said his “biggest concern was I didn’t want anyone to get hurt”.

“I saw kids in the street, cars coming by, and I didn’t want him to get hit and cause an accident.”

On Monday, a trap failed to capture Clyde, but when Mr Lopes returned with a group in the evening, an area resident closed his garage door to trap the bird — although the neighbour voiced concern for his vehicles inside with the fugitive.

Mr Lopes “kept him low to the ground” to keep Clyde from taking flight and caught the bird safely.

He added: “I said, sorry, mate, but I got you now.”

Clyde faced a cool reception upon being returned to his partner that night.

But Mr Lopes said he has secured the premises to prevent another escape, and the two birds had, meanwhile, rekindled their bond.

“Love is in the air,” he added.