Peacock removed from Victoria apartment doorway after attack on resident

VICTORIA — Animal control officers in Victoria have evicted a male peacock from an apartment entrance after the bird’s daily courtship activities recently escalated to an attack on a resident.

The large bird clawed a woman’s hand as she tried to get into the building, Ian Fraser, Victoria’s senior animal control officer, said Monday.

He said the peacock eluded animal control officers until it was caught last Thursday, when it began two weeks in a humane bird facility to cool off during its mating season.

“The peacock was making a royal nuisance of himself. There’s no doubt about that,” Fraser said. “It was blocking off the entranceway to the building. There’s a lot of seniors in that building and actually it attacked a lady and put a sizable gash into the back of her hand.”

Fraser said he suspects the peacock wandered out of Beacon Hill Park and decided to relocate to the apartment entrance after being attracted by its glass features.

“I guess the peacock sees his reflection in the window entranceway of the apartment and thinks it’s his territory.”

Apartment resident Susan Simmons said the peacock wandered over to the building from the nearby park in the spring and wouldn’t leave.

She said it squawked at passing vehicles, performed mating dances for female peacocks and fought with other males who came near the building.

“He just set up shop and was here all day, everyday,” Simmons said. “He had made it his home. He had firmly decided it was his territory. He had territory fights with other peacocks.”

She said she also saw the peacock chase a gardener and a delivery courier before it attacked the building resident.

“It was right for the city to take him away,” Simmons said. “Now what they’ve done is put him in peacock jail while his hormones calm down.”

Fraser said Beacon Hill Park is home to many of the city’s peacocks and it’s unusual for the birds to leave the green space.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2020

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the bird attack was on the weekend.