Animal control officers in Victoria have evicted a male peacock from an apartment entrance after the bird’s daily courtship activities escalated to an attack on a resident over the weekend.
Ian Fraser, Victoria’s senior animal control officer, says a resident was injured when the large bird clawed her hand as she tried to get into the building.
Fraser added that the peacock managed to elude animal control officers a multitude of times as they made several attempts to capture the bird.
The peacock will be spending the next two weeks in a humane bird facility to cool off during its mating season.
Apartment resident Susan Simmons says the peacock wandered over to the building from nearby Beacon Hill Park in the spring and wouldn’t leave.
Summons suggests this isn’t the first time the bird has acted out either.
She says the peacock squawked at passing vehicles, performed mating dances for nearby female peacocks and fought with other males who came near the building.
Beacon Hill Park is well-known for being the home to many of Victoria’s peacocks and nearby residents are all too familiar with noise disturbances from the vocal birds during mating season, however, Fraser says it’s unusual for the birds to leave the green space.
With files to Canadian Press.
Graham Cox
