{Note from mods: this thread split from Rio Grande Zoo (Albuquerque Zoo) [ABQ BioPark]} Perhaps this incident may cause a chance in the trend of zoos giving peafowl and other birds free range of the zoo. Anyone want to discuss this?
Free-roaming peafowl have been on the decrease for years now. This article dated from 2015 gives some of the reason why zoos have phased out of peafowl. Bird flu, wild predators such as birds of prey, attacks on people, and because zoos actually have a bad record of keeping track of how many there are when they birds are allowed to be free roaming are reasons why the majority of zoos have phased them out entirely, or reduced their flock size. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1f753dad44c9
I really LOVE seeing peafowl roaming freely in zoos. They're so utterly dazzling that it inspires awe to be able to share their space and really ponder their beauty. Inspiring awe and wonder in people is not so easy in a time when extraordinary effects in movies and advances in electronics make bigger and faster what get people excited. Peafowl never fail to make me eager to conserve animals. Lol. I don't know where in the world NZP's three peafowl are, but I've sure NEVER seen them roaming. Maybe she was referring to the peafowl then housed in the Bird House, but I can't believe there are/were ever any outside. I have to say too that mating is fascinating to behold. For years, I watched the specimens in the Bird House (closed for renovations since 2018), and this, the display bird of all display birds, not only performs a stunning visual show, but shrieks and chases the female like lightning. The screams were ear-splitting throughout the whole Bird House. A great show. I understand the liability issues involved, and have noticed the decline in peafowl in several zoos. But in this day and age, people can find something to sue for over just about anything. The Bronx Zoo once gave out those commemorative pennies to people exiting a certain exhibit, and a couple sued the zoo after their toddler swallowed it, claiming that the zoo never told them that the pennies were not meant to be swallowed! Frankly the odds of being hurt by a roaming peafowl are probably considerably lower than the odds of being hurt walking NZP's steep and difficult terrain. Yes, there are risks in life, but some are just SO worth taking. These are zoos, after all.
Interesting information. I didn't know specifically that the trend (by which I mean thing that's been going on, not something more places are doing) has been on the decline, but after reading the article, I get why. I (well, I'm not the only one) don't know how common incidents like what recently happened in Albuquerque, but I see it as one of the most obvious ones. I personally am not wholly in favor or against the practice of free range peafowl, but I prefer not partly because some (maybe not most, but definitely some) zoo visitors chase them. (seriously, what clicks in some peoples' minds that says "chase that bird"?)
