College prank elevates flamingo's status

A Lesser Flamingo is seen at the Santillana del Mar Zoo, in northern Spain, December 8, 2006.

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Some stories don't fly. This one doesn't even breathe.

The city council of Wisconsin's capital voted on Tuesday to designate the plastic pink flamingo its official bird, honoring a college prank committed 30 years ago.

In 1979, University of Wisconsin students planted roughly 1,000 of the pink plastic birds on a grassy incline outside the dean's office.

Alderman Marsha Rummel told the Wisconsin State Journal the council's 15-4 vote ensured the event was "captured in our imaginations forever."

(Writing by Andrew Stern, Editing by Sandra Maler)