Peacocks ruffle feathers again

Longbeach Village resident James Braha has been charged with reducing the neighborhood’s growing peacock population since 2011. But the birds are no match for Braha or any other licensed trapper in the state. 

“The birds are pooping all over my driveway,” Braha said. “I’m supposed to be in charge of this problem and there’s nothing I can do. I yell at the peacocks and throw things at them but they don’t go away. They just multiply. There’s no way I would take this job again.” 

Braha estimates there are 85 to 100 peacocks in the Village. And he can’t hire a trapper to take care of the problem quick enough — or even to perform the job at all. 

In March 2010, the Longboat Key Town Commission allocated $3,000 for peacock removal in the Village when more than 90 birds began to irritate some Village residents. (See sidebar.)

There’s only one problem, according to Braha. 

“The trappers do a lousy job,” Braha said.  “We didn’t get close to reducing the flock to 12 birds.”

Braha said he was so fed up he caught 40 birds in his front yard using a 10-foot-by-10-foot trap, pulling a string to collapse the tent when peacocks walked through the tent. 

“The birds are beautiful and bring tourists, but we haven’t found a productive way to get rid of them and bring them to a manageable number.” — James Braha, Longbeach Village resident

“It’s against the law for me to relocate the birds, so I called a trapper and he relocated the birds for $40 per peacock,” Braha said. “But then I realized I was paying them to do the trapping job I was doing, so I stopped.”

Braha went through four trapping companies that either didn’t show up when they said they would or didn’t do the job at all.

“I had to fire them all,” Braha said. “The peacocks multiply faster than these trappers are willing to catch them.”

Braha told the Longboat Observer he has “given up” catching any more peacocks. And the Village has no budget for peacock removal other than what the town paid for trapper invoices more than four years ago.

Not everyone in the Village thinks of the birds as a nuisance.

Michael Drake, former Longbeach Village president, used to trap the birds in his garage and relocate them before he discovered it was illegal for residents to remove the birds. In 2011, he handed the job over to Braha. 

“Half the people love the birds and half the people hate them,” Drake said. “I don’t think there’s an issue. They don’t bother me.”

Drake built 4-foot garden beds in his backyard. He said the birds have stayed out of his yard ever since his former dog scared them years ago.

In an email last week, commission candidate Gene Jaleski told Mayor Jim Brown the town is obligated under its code to control the peacock population and reduce the peafowl to 12 males.

Brown responded in a Feb. 23 email: “I believe the taxpayers lived up to their side of the deal. Why hasn't the Association fulfilled (its) responsibility? No one has ever ignored the needs of the north end.”

Jaleski also urged Town Manager Dave Bullock to take action to reduce the peacock population to 12 in a Feb. 23 email. 

“The peacocks are, as always, a traffic nuisance and attract unwanted tourist traffic that impedes being able to drive down our own streets,” Jaleski wrote. 

Drake said he expects as the peacock population continues to rise closer to 90 birds again, Villagers will approach the commission again for help. 

“It’s a cyclical issue,” Drake said. “The Village is fed up, and the town washes its hands of it and gives us money that doesn’t entice trappers to take care of the problem. There’s no easy answer.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].