Tensions have come to a head over the fate of dozens of wild peacocks that have taken up residence on a street near Vancouver

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

For a decade, a group of feral peacocks have divided the community of Sullivan Heights. Some of the residents of this suburban neighbourhood outside Vancouver love the birds, who have taken up residence in the local trees; others say they are kept awake by the peacocks’ screeching.

For Parminder Brar, the final straw came last year, when he says his father injured himself slipping on peacock excrement on Brar’s property. He formally issued a request to take down the tree where the peacocks had built a nest. The city turned him down.

So, this week, Brar cut down the tree himself.

The move has sparked a furore in Sullivan Heights, angering his neighbours and potentially earning Brar a fine of up to $10,000.

“The majority of us love them. They add value to the neighbourhood,” says Katie Taylor, who has lived on the street for 12 years.

Unlike their native counterpart, the Canada geese who periodically stop by and can be aggressive, the peacocks have proven to be peaceful neighbours.

“We haven’t seen any aggression from the peacocks,” Taylor says. “You can feed them from your hands.”

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Many of the residents on the Sullivan Heights community Facebook page feel less warmly towards the birds. Complaints to the city authorities have been submitted since as far back as 2009, after a nearby farm where the peacocks used to feed closed down and the birds chose to relocate to Sullivan Heights.

The city initially responded by sending animal control staff to round up the peacocks and release them elsewhere. But the birds kept returning.

Ultimately, the issue was dropped because the community was split over whether to let the birds stay.

“It’s a legal grey area,” says Jaspreet Rehal, the city’s public safety manager. “They don’t fall squarely into any animal control rules, regulations and bylaws.”

Nevertheless, he says Brar’s decision to take the law into his own hands was wrong. “Cutting down the tree was not an option. It was a very healthy tree, it was important to the environment around it and we take tree removal very seriously.”



The next step, Rehal says, is to convene a consultation with the community as a whole to decide what to do, with the likely result that the peacocks are relocated.

For now, the birds have taken to perching on Brar’s roof.