FL Suburb Fixes Peacock Problem In Unlikely Way: Vasectomies

PINECREST, FL — A Miami suburb overrun with peacocks is taking matters into its own hands by "snipping" the growing predicament in the bud.

Residents of Pinecrest, an affluent community located about 10 minutes southwest of Miami, grew tired of the growing peacock population after the colorful peafowl made their way south and found a new home in the city's lush trees, the New York Times reported. In fact, the peacocks took over the large lots, pecking paint from cars, scratching roofs, and defecating on driveways.

The town had enough and hired a local veterinarian to cut off the problem at its source by performing rapid peacock vasectomies, reports said.

"The upside of peacocks is they're beautiful. Everybody knows that," Dr. Don J. Harris told the Miami Herald. "The downside is they can do damage to property. They will see their reflection in a car and attack the car...They roost on fences, on the tops of cars and roofs. They do damage there. And they're vocal. Very vocal."

Last month, Miami-Dade County granted Pinecrest a waiver from the county's peafowl ordinance, which prohibits killing or capturing peacocks, the Herald reported. As a result, the city budgeted $7,500 a month for what officials call a pilot program.

"We get complaints about peacocks every week. It's non-stop," Raquel Regalado, a Miami-Dade commissioner representing Pinecrest, told the Herald. "During mating season, it's our number one issue."

Since peafowl are polygamous in nature, peacocks often have several partners during mating season. After mating, peahens can lay up to six eggs.

"We're going to catch one peacock and probably stop seven females from reproducing," Harris told The New York Times. "It's going to have an exponential benefit."

How does a peacock vasectomy work? Following an endoscopic vasectomy, the peacocks would still display dominant behavior and assemble a harem of peahens; however, they'll no longer be able to fertilize eggs.

"The procedure itself is incredibly benign compared to what's done with cats and dogs and other animals that are sterilized," Harris told NBC6.

While some zoological experts question if the effort is worth the expense, many residents don't want to harm the peacocks, they simply want to curb their numbers.

"I certainly wouldn't want to kill them — God, no," Gerald Greenberg, who has about seven peafowl living in a tree in his front yard, told the Times. But, he added, "We've got to do something."