COCOA BEACH, Fla. – Traps were set in a Brevard County neighborhood on Monday where dozens of destructive peafowl have taken over, according to residents.
City leaders decided last week to pay a professional trapper to come in and trap the 18 birds and have them relocated to a Palm Bay rural farm, costing $1,500.
Residents on Rose Drive say the birds are invading their homes, scratching cars, crashing through screens, and eating flowers and plants. The brightly-colored birds are not native to Florida, and they're causing thousands of dollars in damage.
"They will sit up there on the beams, and sometimes they'll walk on the screens and fall through," one resident said. Neighbors also said the birds make a screeching noise and wake them up sometimes as early as 4 a.m.
Trapper James Dean has caught four of the peafowl as of Monday.
"There's going to be issues in neighborhoods everywhere," Dean said. "They're going to experience problems everywhere this time of year."
Residents also want the city of Cocoa Beach to enact an ordinance, banning the feeding of peafowl. Some residents purposely fed the peacocks to keep them around because they like the birds.
"It's nice to have some wildlife around," said resident Bill Nutter.
The city commission will also research the possibility of an ordinance to ban the feeding of peacocks and to amend an existing ordinance the establishes parts of Cocoa Beach as a wildlife sanctuary.