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The report cited a “high number of daily calls, emails and complaints,” which Rehal said were about three or four dozen over the past three months.

The city will trap the estimated 100 birds in a “phased in approach” and transport them to the Surrey Animal Resource Centre for a “medical evaluation.”

Rehal said they would remain at the pound like any other animal that ends up there until a home could be found for them. Animals that aren’t placed are euthanized, but he’s certain that won’t be the birds’ fate.

“We have a lot of people outside the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island who said, we’ll take 10, 20, 30 birds,” he said.

But the birds have to be caught first.

The report noted that two U.S. cities — one in Florida, another in California — had a similar problem and never captured and relocated all the birds.

“They are difficult to trap and there are limited options for containing them,” said Rehal in the report. “If any peafowl are left behind, the issue will continue.”

Surrey animal advocate Roslyn Cassells, who said she is running for Surrey council this fall, disputed the city staff’s findings that the birds are a threat to public safety.

She said there are only 48 of them, they’ve lived in that area since 1976 and that 95 per cent of the residents support letting them stay.

“They’re actually not doing any harm,” she said. “Why don’t we learn to coexist with them? There isn’t really a problem with the peacocks, there’s a problem with human ignorance.”