Peacock control plan could bring peace (and less poop) to Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove is either peacock paradise or a screeching, pecking, pooping hell fit for a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” depending where one falls on the love-them or loathe-them scale.
But the peafowl proliferation problem that has long split feuding Grove neighbors is finally being addressed.
“Every breeding season there’s 30, 40 more peacocks and if nothing is done they will soon outnumber us,” said Cindy McCall, a North Grove resident whose dog died from an infection her veterinarian attributed to peacock feces. “Twenty years ago we had zero peacocks. Now on any given day we’ve got five to 50 devouring our yard, scratching our cars and keeping us awake at night. Sure, they’re gorgeous when they spread their plumage, but six would be a lot more beautiful than 600.”
A proposal to control Miami’s peafowl population was introduced last week by Commissioner Ken Russell, a longtime Grove resident. Russell would like to model the city’s solution on a humane management plan implemented by Rancho Palos Verdes, California, where homeowners and birds co-exist in relative harmony now that excess peacocks are trapped and relocated to refuges where they can preen and defecate to their heart’s content.
“We have a responsibility to stop the property damage,” Russell said. “It’s hard for people in the South Grove to understand what people in the North Grove are going through where it’s so acute they have emboldened peacocks who own the neighborhood and spill out into the streets. The key is to prioritize compassionate treatment of the animals.”
Although no precise census data yet exists, the population of peacocks, peahens and pea chicks has grown to nearly 1,000, estimates Chris Baraloto, director of the International Center for Tropical Botany at the Kampong and an FIU botany professor. He and a team of student interns have begun a field study to collect information on head count, density and habits as well as residents’ attitudes toward and observations of their fine-feathered fellow inhabitants of Miami’s oldest, lushest and formerly most bohemian community.
“Peacocks are a sensitive topic because they’ve got aesthetics going for them,” said Baraloto, who lives in the South Grove. “We want to get an accurate inventory, examine the distribution, understand the biology and do projections based on types of intervention that would stabilize the population at a level that satisfies residents.”
Like most Miamians, peacocks are immigrants, too. They trace their lineage to India and Sri Lanka, and were first brought here to be exotic yard ornaments. Peacocks are an invasive species but unlike iguanas and pythons, peacocks are protected by the city’s designation as a bird sanctuary. With no lawful, ethical method for culling the flock, it has grown, and, in the North Grove, particularly in Bay Heights, grown to destructive proportions.
Peacocks see their reflection on the side of a car, mistake it for a rival and attack with their beaks. They eat plants and dig for insects. They squawk year-round but the noise is 24/7 during mating season.
“I don’t speak their language but I know it’s loud,” McCall said. “They are aggressive, messy birds. We have to hose down our walkways and sidewalks. They have no fear of cars; you stop for them. They are non-natives with no natural predators.
“This is a property value issue and a quality of life issue, not a peacock lovers vs. peacock haters issue. We love animals. We have rescue dogs and cats. We love Coconut Grove, but a moderate number of peacocks belongs in the Grove, not an out-of-control number. Take them in a humane way to a sanctuary where they can be birds and won’t have to dodge traffic.”
Based on anecdotal interviews, about half of Grove residents find the bejeweled birds wonderful and half call them a nuisance, Baraloto said.
Lonny Morris, a lifetime Groveite, is a peacock fan. The Grove’s first settlers included the Peacock family, proprietors of the Peacock Inn.
“They’ve always been here and it’s cool to be so close to nature,” Morris said. “I don’t know why they became such a contentious issue. I think they are harmless creatures that should be left alone. Why take another piece of our Grove history and make it disappear? We have much bigger problems to deal with in South Florida.”
About 30 peacocks cruise Morris’ South Grove neighborhood off LeJeune Road. They act as “living speed bumps” and slow traffic, he said. They roost in his large oak trees.
Morris heard about “peacockicide” — peafowl shot to death by angry residents. As the Grove became ground zero of the peacock conflict, there were proposals to euthanize or sterilize the birds.
An Iowa couple known as Mr. and Mrs. Peacock offered to help Miami as they had helped other cities (including Rancho Palos Verdes) by conducting educational seminars — “Peacocks are resilient. They’re obstinate. One reason humans don’t like them is because they reflect human behavior,” explained Dennis “Mr. Peacock” Fett — and adopting the poop-producing pariahs at their 4-acre peacock farm. They even instructed Miamians how to box and mail them the birds via Priority Express, enclosing a nutrition gel pack.
Miami-Dade County considered an organized trapping campaign that would remove peacocks safely in accordance with county law but could find no sanctuaries willing to take them. South Miami and Coral Gables, hoping to stop peacocks from crossing their borders, threatened to fine residents who fed peacocks or treated them like pets.
So Morris and his wife Katrina, who has relatives in Rancho Palos Verdes, sent Russell a copy of the California city’s scientific and humane management plan. Russell will adapt his proposal for the November commission meeting.
“I’m sympathetic to the people in the North Grove,” Morris said. “I’m confident we can find a healthy balance, and we can all live with a reasonable number of peacocks and they can live with us.”
