Critter Corner: Miami is divided on peacocks

Squee! Baby peacocks have been waddling around El Portal, delighting Deirdra.

Yes, but: The Village of Pinecrest announced a mitigation plan this week to pare down the peacock population.

• An avian veterinarian will give vasectomies to the males and salpingectomies (fallopian tube removals) to juvenile peahens to prevent them from reproducing.
• They will be returned to Pinecrest three to four days after the procedures.

Why it matters: Peacocks are common — and controversial — in some Miami neighborhoods.

• They survive in urban environments eating snails, bugs, seeds and all the dry cat food that residents put out.
• Not everyone loves them, though, because they scratch cars and make loud noises.

Flashback: It's illegal to harm peacocks, but Coral Gables residents complained so much that they triggered new county rules last year that allow individual municipalities to come up with mitigation plans like Pinecrest's.

The other side: In El Portal, which is a bird sanctuary, Mayor Omarr Nickerson tells Axios that residents protect their peacocks fiercely. He could recall only one person ever complaining.

• When a driver killed a peacock once, an angry crowd surrounded the car, demanding justice for the bird. "We had to call the cops, put him in cuffs," Nickerson says.