Feral, aggressive peacocks are wreaking havoc on this Houston neighborhood, residents say

Kellie Donoghue proceeds with trepidation when she takes her four dogs for a walk. Even though it’s broad daylight, she scans the streets before she makes a turn, vigilant for the omnipresent threat that’s taking over her Memorial-area neighborhood. She’s checking the roads, tree tops and bushes for peacocks. For decades, peacocks — more accurately called peafowl — have stalked Donoghue's Heathwood neighborhood, shrieking from homes and trees and charging at humans and pets. The peafowl, she said, are prone to attacking humans, animals and cars and can cause serious property damage to homes. They walk into traffic without hesitation, creating unsafe driving conditions for motorists.

“I saw seven of them smashing into a car the other day,” she reported. “They tear up roofs and break windows. Once they even chased a group of kids.” Compounding the issue, said Heathwood resident Linda Aber, is the fact that all the birds started out as one small, privately owned flock. Aber believes the birds are all inbred, which she said raises ethical questions about whether they should be allowed to continue to reproduce. The Heathwood flock are notorious among Texas ornithologists and invasive species experts. Fred Collins is a wildlife biologist and former president of the Texas Audubon Society advisory board who has been studying the birds since they were introduced to Houston in the late 1950s. The peafowl were brought to the area by Vargo’s restaurant, which closed in 2012. Many of the birds left Vargo's property, he said, settling in the nearby neighborhoods.