Commission seeks to reduce peacock population

First, you lure them in with a false sense of security and lots of cracked corn. What follows includes trapping nets, cages and — for the most elusive of peacocks that hide in trees and bushes — tranquilizer gun darts.

That’s the $25,000 plan of attack for reducing the Longbeach Village peafowl population from approximately 150 birds to 12 males.

Town Manager Dave Bullock informed the Longboat Key Town Commission Nov. 9 the town is close to finalizing an agreement with Palmetto-based Nuisance Wildlife Removal that’s willing to do the job.

The contractor will charge a $1,500 setup fee for traps and cracked corn and charge $200 to catch the first 10 birds. Additional birds will cost $150 each to catch.

And for the birds that aren’t exactly bird-brained that know better than to be lured to the traps and hide in trees to avoid capture?

Those birds will cost the town $275 apiece to be stunned from above with tranquilizer gun darts.

“If the commission direction is truly to reduce the population to a small number of males, to achieve that goal, we end up using tranquilizers for the ones too smart to be trapped,” Bullock said.

Even when the flock is culled to 12 males, that doesn’t mean the end of peacock population growth because females lay eggs in trees and in other hard-to-find places. That means the town may need a recurring budget line item for peacock removal until all of the birds except 12 males are found and relocated.

The news frustrated some commissioners.

“We should just get rid of all of them,” said Commissioner Phill Younger.

Mayor Jack Duncan agreed.

“If one female pops up, we’re back to where we started,” Duncan said. “If we’re going to spend $25,000 to get rid of them, I think we get all of them.”

But when Duncan asked for commission consensus for removing all the birds, only he, Younger and Commissioner Pat Zunz supported the suggestion.

Vice Mayor Terry Gans said the town should stick with the current plan of 12 males, and that’s the direction commissioners gave Bullock.

“The objective is 12 male birds,” Gans said. “I think that’s a good number.”

Commissioner Irwin Pastor agreed.

“Some people really enjoy them,” Pastor said. “It’s a question of balance for the community.”

Zunz, who lives on the north end, said the birds easily diminish the quality of life for property owners who have to deal with the birds squawking on their rooftops, pooping all over their walkways, pecking holes in their screens and scratching paint off cars when they see their reflection in the paint.

“Peacocks can be as much of a nuisance as raccoons,” Zunz said. “They can be downright nasty, and they’re disruptive.”

James Braha and Michael Drake, who were previously charged with reducing a growing Village peacock population, said they believe the contract might finally rid the Village of its
peacock problem.

“The contract seems a bit excessive, cost-wise,” Drake said. “But it sounds like it will work.”

Braha agreed.

“It’s very hard for people to understand the problem because they don’t have to deal with this nuisance every day,” Braha said. “It’s time to rid the Village of this problem.”

The commission originally discussed a $10,000 trapper contract that did not draw bidders until the town revised its terms.