A peacock learned the hard way that it's a cold, cruel world out there today. The animal died after becoming frozen to a tree in the bitter cold. Meanwhile, a little girl learned the same lesson in a less tragic way.

Blue, a 5-year-old peacock from The Randall Oaks Barnyard Zoo, died this morning after escaping from the Dundee zoo on Tuesday, Associated Press reports. During his escape, Blue endured the Illinois temperature of 12 degrees below zero. Firefighters were able to rescue Blue yesterday, but it was not enough,

The zoo dressed Blue in a sweatshirt and drenched him in warm water in an attempt to bring back his circulation. The attempts were unsuccessful, however, and according to Brian Mangiaracina, park and division manager of Randall Oaks, the peacock probably died because of fluid that built up in his lungs from the cold.

On Tuesday, Blue escaped from his heated pen after his feeding and cleaning. He flew to the top of a pine tree, where he became attached to one of its branches by his frozen feet. The West Dundee Fire Department was called to the scene and arrived with a 100-foot ladder. Kristen Wuestenfeld, assistant zoo manager, removed Blue from the tree after he was stuck for 90 minutes.

"The bird's feet were pretty cold," Mangiaracina told Daily Herald yesterday. "We more or less warmed the feet, got his legs working again, and now he's under watch in another heated building for quarantine."

Blue was also given antibiotics in order to help stop the fluid build-up in his lungs.

The late Blue is not the only one who found himself frozen to a tall, thick entity this season. Last week, Maddie Gilmartin also found herself stuck. It wasn't a tree that got the 12-year-old frozen still, however, but rather a flag pole.

"It just kind of popped into my head, 'Hey what would happen if I stuck my tongue to a flag pole?'" Gilmartin told WMUR. "At the moment, I was like, 'It will come right off.'"

Gilmartin remained tongue-to-pole for 15 minutes before emergency services and her parents, using warm water, were able to set her free.

These stories show that it's easy for anyone to get "attached" during these cold and lonely winter months.

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