There’s a new gang in town as Peacocks run amok in LA suburb

A peacock shows its plumage as part of a courtship display at a park in London
REUTERS

A Los Angeles suburb has been overrun by peacocks as the giant bird’s population flourished over lockdown.

Residents of Pasadena says the dazzling birds have been keeping them awake with their mating call likened to a “baby being tortured through a very large microphone”.

The prolific breeders are reportedly descendants of a small population imported by a wealthy entrepreneur in the late 19th century roam free by the hundreds in Pasadena and other towns northeast of Los Angeles.

They travel the streets in packs destroying gardens, landing on roofs and even trying to fight their reflection in parked cars after mistaking it for a love rival.

Now LA County has advised people to stop feeding the birds as the population gets out of control. They are looking to pass a law this week that makes feeding peacocks an offence punishable by a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.

Mike Maxcy, who worked as curator of birds at the Los Angeles Zoo, charges $200 to relocate the troublesome birds.

“It’s the most polarizing thing I’ve ever been involved with,” Maxcy told The Washington Post. “Seventy percent of the population hate them and want them out. … Thirty percent love and cherish them.”

“They wake me up at dawn. They sound like babies being tortured through a microphone, a very large microphone. And that is probably the start of my complaints,” Kathleen Tuttle, 68, a retired prosecutor told the same paper.

Meanwhile in Thamesmead, south London, a three-foot-high heron known locally as Hannibal, was caught on camera visiting his local KFC branch to beg for scraps of food.

Hannibal, the Heron, has been known to visit his local KFC for over ten years
Danny Keenan

Danny Keenan, a volunteer at the Greenwich Wildlife Network, told the Standard: “Some call him Hannibal because he is a bit of a beast the way he chomps down chicken.

“You can get pretty close to chuck him scraps until he takes off like a Pterodactyl taking flight. He has adapted very well to the urban environment - he loves having his picture taken.”

Hannibal and some of his family members have been in Thamesmead for 30 years after the town was built over their natural marshland habitat.

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