Roaming peacocks plague California city: 'They're a nuisance, but they're beautiful'

[Celerity]

Multiplying birds have become an issue in the city of Tracy, wailing loudly and unleashing poop ‘like soft serve’. Now residents want to relocate them

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/30/peacocks-plague-california-city-tracy-birds-relocate



Dozens of feral peacocks and peahens are roaming the streets and leaping from the rooftops of Tracy, California. They claw at shingles and defecate on porches. Their calls, especially in mating season, echo through the community. They have no fear of pets nor people.

Errant peafowl have milled around the city’s Redbridge neighborhood for years – some believe they originally came from a now-defunct nearby dairy farm – but the numbers have increased as the birds keep multiplying. Now they’re everywhere, and ruffling some residents’ feathers.

“I’ll have like eight of them sitting on my porch railing pooping,” said Stephanie Voress, proprietor of the Redbridge General Store. “They’re a nuisance, but they’re beautiful.”

In recent weeks, some community members decided that something had to be done. The homeowners association of Redbridge, a gated community, has proposed to humanely relocate about 30 to 40 peafowl through a deal with the city and a contract with Bay Area Wildlife Services.

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[XanaDUer2]

1. Life will find a way nt

[maxsolomon]

2. In the 90s, Seattle had large populations of resident Canada Geese

Still have some, but not like back then. You couldn't use a public beach.

So, after trying (and failing) harassment with dogs, and coddling their eggs in spring, they herded them in to a semi trailer and gassed them. Lots of rending of garments, but it solved the problem - for a few years at least.

Peacocks are an introduced, invasive species. Someone might want to think about eating them.

[SoCalNative]

4. Unfortunately in some places in CA they're protected

so you can't touch them.

[Klaralven]

5. Baroque Roasted Peacock with Claret Sauce

[Hoyt]

3. Back in the 50s, lots of farms in rural Georgia had peacocks running around.

[Torchlight]

6. Gorgeous animals that make up for it with the shrillest sounds I've heard since Sean Spicer

But to their credit, I never knew of a peacock that hid in bushes from White House reporters.

[chowder66]

7. You should hear what the Peacocks have to say about humans. nt