Ah makes me think of when I worked at a particular zoo and one day a free-range peacock flew into the tiger enclosure. It did not go well.
I'd be surprised if Bronx had less than 100-150 peafowl on their grounds. They are treated as part of the collection afaik. I have no idea how they keep them on the grounds given that they seem to just go wherever they want within the zoo. ~Thylo
Zoos with peafowl usually have bowls of seed hidden around the grounds. The peafowl stay on the grounds because they rely on those bowls for most of their diet.
Sad to hear, but I have to say it was quite a naturalistic situation in biogeographic terms of predator and prey.
One time a peacock got stranded on a top floor balcony outside of Central Park I don't remember them ever having free-roaming peafowl, though, only in the tropical building Beardsley Zoo has free-roaming peafowl and guineafowl. ~Thylo
Happens in most zoos that have free range peafowl and open topped predator enclosures. Also occasional larger wild birds come to grief. I’ve briefly seen a Herring Gull facing down three Lions.....then one of them manned up!
I haven't seen any get attacked, but at Sorocaba zoo the small cats and particularly the pampas cats stalk them. I would imagine that a peafowl would not last long in an encounter without any bars between them. What happened to the gull ?
I remember when a deer got into the National Zoo's Lion enclosure... One time a deer also got inside the Maritime Aquarium by jumping into the seal pool and swimming inside. A little different but still an unusual and fun story. The deer was caught and released with no injuries. ~Thylo
Two that I know have them and haven't seen mentioned yet are: Chahinkapa Zoo in Whapeton, ND Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO No idea if they are managed as part of the collection, but would guess yes for both.
Prior to Covid my local Reid Park Zoo had them and maybe they still do. I have only been once since the zoo reopened and I don't remember seeing any. I am not sure if I just didn't notice or if they put them in an off exhibit enclosure. Personally I do not like when zoos have free roaming peafowl (seeing an Indian peafowl in an African savannah ruins the effect).
The blank park zoo in Des Moines Iowa has some free roaming peafowl. The como Park zoo & conservatory used to have them, but phased them out a long time ago.
