WEDNESAY, AUG. 5, 2015 – A Palm Desert family endured an unusual visit from not one, but two young peacocks the past week. And, apparently, the Granados family of Portola Avenue was not the only clan getting familiar with the wandering male and female birds.
Riverside County Animal Services received a call from the Granados family about one week ago. An officer had already made one attempt to retrieve the birds in what was an ongoing adventure for her.
Animal Control Officer Lisa Boughamer had actually been trying to retrieve the pesky peafowls since a mid-March. She had received multiple calls from several families in the same general area. One of the birds even leaped in front of a man driving a truck -- and brushed against his windshield.
The man stopped, the female bird scurried under his truck, and he called Riverside County Animal Services. The hen was OK. The man gave it some ice water. When Officer Boughamer arrived, the hen flew into a palm tree.
Unfortunately, this would become a dreaded pattern for her. Each time Officer Boughamer responded to calls for service about the birds, she would spot them, but then the peafowls did what peafowls will do: Scaled walls, flutter away, land themselves safely into higher spots, etc. It was becoming the not-so-funny joke between her and her colleagues.
So when call No. 2 came on Tuesday (Aug. 4) from a frustrated Isabel Granados, Officer Boughamer recruited an official Peafowl Retrieval Team. She said she could tell that Ms. Granados had had enough of the birds. So she and three colleagues rolled out for the great capture of 2015.
As Ms. Granados put it, the birds were not hers, but she treated them well for a few days, feeding them bread and other snacks. But then they started taking over, thinking they owned the joint. All told, they took over in less than a week’s time. “They had no shame,” joked Isabel Granados.
Mr. and Mrs. Peacock pecked at her back door, roosted on the roof of her car, pooped often and everywhere and started taking over Brownie’s bowl of grub. Brownie was done with them too. Very done. Brownie, the family’s 8-month-old Boxer, darted around the yard chasing the birds when they first appeared. But even Brownie had grown weary of the great chase. And now the birds helped themselves to his food dish whenever they darn well pleased.
At about noon Tuesday, Officer Boughamer and her team made a successful snatch of the pea hen (the female) and the peacock (the male) of Palm Desert. Sure, they tried to outrun and outfox the officers. But in the end, it was a dreaded carport where the proud birds would run out of space. Animal Control Officer Hector Palafox had them cornered and, within moments and without harm, he had them in his grasp.
The birds are now resting comfortably at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms where they will be held for their owner and a potential reunion. The birds, if not accounted for, will head to a sanctuary or be adopted out to someone with the knowledge of how to care for such birds.
