Search for man who abducted wild peacock

Bloodcurdling screams are fairly routine in the Beckley Club Estates neighbourhood of east Oak Cliff in Dallas, Texas. That’s because the area is home to a large flock, or ostentation, of peacocks, whose mating call sounds vaguely like a human scream. But the commotion Saturday evening was enough to alarm even longtime resident Tisha Crear. She ran out onto her porch just in time to see a man slam the door of his vehicle on some tail feathers and drive away with a peacock. “I couldn’t believe it,” Crear said. “I was screaming.”



She wasn’t the only one screaming. A stream of peacocks ran after the man’s black Chevy Tahoe, yelling in futility after the alpha male of the group. The peacock was taken at about 7pm from a flock that has roamed the neighbourhood for more than 20 years. The stolen bird was the largest and oldest male of the group. Crear said the birds have lived in the neighbourhood ever since one of her neighbours bought two peafowl and a few other wild birds, Crear said. The whole community feeds them and looks after them.

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But on Saturday night, someone else was watching them. Lisa Solis’ home security system recorded the bird being snatched. She said the video shows the man stalking the birds for about 20 minutes before making his move. The man approaches the bird just as it fanned its feathers and began calling for mates. “That’s part of what makes this so sickening,” said Solis, noting that the peacock was at its most vulnerable. Crear said the man clearly knew what he was doing, grabbing the peacock by its feet and quickly lifting it upside down.

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“Who knows how to capture a peacock?” she said. “I sure don’t.” The suspect was described as a Hispanic man wearing a white T-shirt and a baseball cap, and the surveillance video also captured images of his black Chevrolet Tahoe. Solis filed a report with Dallas police and planned to call animal control, too. “We just want him to see that we know what he did,” Solis said, “and that we care.” She said she’s concerned that the male won’t be around to fertilize any eggs this season, possibly throwing off the flock’s dynamic. “We all think of the peacocks as our own,” Crear said. “They grow up in the neighbourhood and we hope to keep the generations coming.”