Frisky peacock gets marching orders

A Bunbury woman is fighting to keep her beloved pet peacock after she was told by the council it had to be removed because of the “screeching” noises the male bird mad during mating season.

Picton Crescent resident Katrina Bogdanoff said the peacock, she has named Czar, arrived at her door about 10 years ago.

“He’s a pet in the sense that he doesn’t try and wander away but Czar is really the street’s pet and people are very attached to him,” she said.

Keeping roosters, geese, turkeys and peacocks and peafowls in residential areas is against the City of Bunbury’s local laws unless permission is given by the council.

In 2010 Mrs Bogdanoff accepted responsibility for the peacock and was granted approval to keep the bird on the condition the council did not receive any noise complaints.

The council has received three complaints in the past month. One neighbour, who did not want to be named, told the Times that during the mating season, from November to late January, the bird was a “terror”.

“For those 12 weeks it will screech every few minutes from 2am to 5am andit doesn’t know it’s keeping people awake,” the neighbour said.

The council said it had a responsibility to enforce local laws and maintain the health and wellbeing of residents and has asked Mrs Bogdanoff to relocate the peacock.