Why Rancho Palos Verdes Stopped Trapping Peacocks

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA — The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to pause the city's peafowl trapping program for 2023 after the annual census showed a decrease in the number of the birds in local communities.

The 2023 census was conducted in April and reported a total of 133 birds in six neighborhoods. According to the city, this is an overall reduction of about 5 percent from 2022, where 140 were counted. Residents said they were saddened to see fewer birds in their neighborhoods despite the council also pausing the trapping program last year.

"I love them. I think they're great and it's part of the charm of living in RPV and away from the City of Los Angeles," resident Marcia Luce said. "Thankfully you guys stopped the trapping last year, but I still haven't seen the peacock population come back on my street."

One resident of Palos Verdes Estates, Darcel Ramirez Hamson, lives right next to the kennel where the city houses the trapped peafowl and said she saw how drastically the recent harsh rain storms hit the birds that are housed outside.

Hamson agrees that the program should be paused and said she was concerned about how the trapping affects the social structure of the birds. Both Hamson and Luce said they hope to see more peacock families in the community as a result of the paused trapping.

Though residents spoke in support of the birds at the meeting, there have been past incidences of violence toward the birds. On April 12, 2022, city officials said they received reports of a peacock that was repeatedly shot with an air gun near Lobrook Drive.

"This type of activity is illegal and contrary to the City’s policy of managing peafowl in a humane way," city officials said.

Rancho Palos Verdes's peafowl management program was established eight years ago to control the population that grew to more than 270 in the baseline year of 2014. Since 2015, 589 peafowls have been humanely trapped and relocated to communities off the peninsula, according to city data.

The city will consider restarting the trapping program again after the 2024 peafowl census is recorded next spring. Pausing this year's program will save the city approximately $40,000 according to officials.