Peacock Killed In Rollings Hills Estates Hit-And-Run

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA — Humane officers from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles will be canvassing in a Rolling Hills Estates neighborhood Monday, investigating a recent incident where a peacock was hit and killed by an SUV that kept driving.

The peacock was hit and killed on Dec. 21 at about 10 a.m. on Buckskin Lane, according to Ana Bustilloz of spcaLA.

"Reporting witnesses say the driver made no apparent attempt either to slow down or to otherwise prevent the collision, and claimed the driver did not stop even after crushing the bird with both its front and rear passenger tires," Bustilloz said in a statement.

A similar incident happened in Chatsworth recently, where a driver was found to have intentionally killed a peacock with his vehicle, Bustilloz said. The motorist faces two felony animal cruelty charges in violation of California Penal Code 597(a), Bustilloz said.

More than 60 peacocks have been found dead in the Rolling Hills Estates area since June 2012, Bustilloz said.

"The birds, a fixture of the neighborhood since the late 1800s, are beloved by some residents and despised by others," Bustilloz said. "Previous spcaLA investigations employed DNA, fingerprint, surveillance camera analysis, and necropsies to discover the perpetrator or perpetrators of these crimes to no avail."

Individuals with information regarding these crimes are urged to call the spcaLA Cruelty Tipline at 800-540-SPCA.

City News Service contributed to this post