Pooping peacocks are making a mess of this California city. Residents are fed up

Residents of a Tracy, California, neighborhood say they are fed up with a flock of about 30 peacocks jumping on roofs, defecating and making noise at all hours.

“They’re beautiful, but to live with them, that’s another story,” resident Terina Lacey told KCRA.

The peacocks and peahens once were owned by a dairy that went out of business decades ago, Brittany Pasquale, Tracy animal services supervisor, told the station. They’ve multiplied and become a nuisance in the Redbridge neighborhood of the city southwest of Stockton.

“Stomping on the rooftops, they’re noisy, they poop everywhere,” Lacey told KOVR. “The houses in our court have white roofs and it’s not from snow.”

The birds also scratch vehicles by walking on them and create traffic problems at a nearby elementary school, KTXL reported. Residents have had enough.

“They will definitely make a home of your home,” Lacey told the station.

Peacocks are among the “loudest animals on earth,” according to the World Animal Foundation. They talk “to each other during the morning and late evening ..., make meowing sounds when it is going to rain ... (and) make alarm calls when they sense danger.” And, if that’s not enough noise, males sing to get the attention of females.

In addition to being loud, the colorful animals are also prodigious poopers.

The Tracy City Council and neighborhood homeowner’s association will split the $30,000 bill to humanely relocate the peacocks somewhere more appropriate, KOVR reported.

This story was originally published November 28, 2021 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Pooping peacocks are making a mess of this California city. Residents are fed up."