fuzzy-
Should I be thinking about adding kahlua?
definitely! pass the bottle please.
whoever would have thought canada would
have a peacock problem? when you've finished
reading this, i'll give you the globe & mail
for the real nasty stuff.
-rose
Capital's peacocks may have to be destroyed
VICTORIA I They're pretty to look at but they're also dirty, noisy and breed to excess in mild climate
Norman Gidney
Victoria Times Colonist
May 8, 2004
They're big, colourful creatures, but in parts of Greater Victoria peacocks are noisy, dirty birds that breed to excess, and they may have to be culled.
"They can be a real nuisance," Don Brown, manager of animal control services at the Capital Regional District told to a council committee in the suburban municipality of Colwood Friday.
"These animals create a big mess in people's yards. They defecate like a dog. They breed prolifically," said Brown.
He said it may be unpalatable to consider, but "there may be no other option than to destroy these animals."
Peacocks aren't native to the Victoria area, but some captive birds have gone native and have thrived in the mild climate. Numbers are increasing, he said.
Joe Calenda, city manager of Colwood, where peacocks roam the grounds of Royal Roads University, said complaints about the birds started coming to his office on Thursday.
Coun. Connie Harrigan asked if Brown's staff had thought of managing the population by removing eggs from the nest.
"It's probably easier said than done," Brown replied. They nest quite high in trees and can be hard to capture.
"They're almost like a helicopter, they go straight up. If you try to wrestle one, they fight like hell. They're pretty strong birds. They don't like to be handled."
"They have babies every year -- we don't want any more," said Stephanie Slater, media relations manager at Royal Roads. Two pairs of peacocks donated by an Okanagan couple in the 1960s have multiplied.
Head gardener Dave Rutherford mounts his own cull when numbers get up to around 20. Bread is the preferred bait, which draws them close so staff can grab and bag the birds.
"Once they're in a sack, they go completely quiet," said Slater.
The peacocks aren't killed, but are freed to good homes. The gardener gives them away to people with large properties. "As long as they don't live near me," is Rutherford's main test for adoption, she said.
From an animal control officer's perspective, Brown said the difficulty now is finding new homes. Beacon Hill Park used to resettle them and so did Royal Roads, but neither will accept problem peacocks now. They're also unwelcome at Butchart Gardens.
As an animal nuisance, he compared them to the rabbits around Victoria General Hospital, where the municipality of View Royal asked him to leave the bunnies alone. But now that municipality is reconsidering its policy of leniency because the rabbit burrows have undermined house foundations.
© The Vancouver Sun 2004 |
