In Fort Lauderdale, FL., as Local 10 News reports, “Residents of a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood are warning that a woman and man have been hunting peahens and peacocks in the community.”
As you can imagine, the mostly “pro-peacock” neighborhood in Ft. Lauderdale is in an uproar. Janet Swanson, a local resident stated, “I have no idea what would cross somebody’s mind that they would come out here in their truck to shoot peacocks”.
We don’t know either Ms. Swanson. Shooting animals from trucks in residential neighborhoods is never a good idea.
However, as an avid hunter, the first thing that popped into my mind was: Peacock? How do they taste and where can I hunt them?
My curiosity was peaked, and I wondered, is it even legal to hunt peacocks in Florida?
After performing a thorough search of the web, I discovered that Blue Peafowl, are not considered wildlife. They are classified by state law as domestic livestock, the same classification that applies to chickens. (But, do they taste like chicken? That’s the real question here.)
“According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, that means the state has no authority to regulate the birds. Instead, the task of making and enforcing laws about peafowl is up to individual communities. Each community may have its own rules regarding what a resident is permitted to do to remove or eliminate nuisance peafowl from the area. However, peafowl may find some protection under Florida’s state animal cruelty laws.”
Okay avid hunters, don’t book a trip yet, there isn’t a hunting season for peacocks in Florida. However, if they aren’t considered a game animal in Florida, why was someone hunting them? Oh, the woes of Floridians.
Apparently, not everyone loves peacocks as they can be quite noisy. Fortunately, there are alternatives to being arrested and going to jail for shooting a peacock down in the street . . .
You can either get permission from the state to poison them or just call your local authorities. I’m sure these are the phone calls that make cops in Florida love their jobs: “domestic disturbance, peacock involved”.
Either way, seems like such a waste of a potentially great tasting bird and a beautiful mount.
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