It Was Murder Most Fowl

At least two of the five peacocks found dead in Palos Verdes Estates were poisoned, the city’s Police Department announced Tuesday.

A necropsy of the two birds concluded that they had eaten food laced with diazinon, according to separate releases put out by the police and by the community organization Friends of the Peacock.

The exotic peafowl have long roamed the streets of the city but not without provoking controversy and even a lawsuit. Some residents see them as colorful wildlife that lend charm and distinctiveness to the community. Others consider them a noisy, sometimes destructive menace.

Debbie Mott, president of Friends of the Peacock, which financed the necropsy, said the results indicated the birds ate feed mix that contained diazinon, a pesticide used to kill insects.

Mott said there was no sign that the birds had simply stumbled upon a garden containing pesticide.

“There would be evidence of that,” said Mott. Instead, the remains of food analyzed in the birds’ crops and gizzards contained no flowers or vegetation. Someone was “intentionally luring birds to eat a mixture that had poison in it,” Mott said. “I don’t see any other explanation.”

The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory in San Bernardino performed the necropsies.

No one at the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department would comment beyond the department’s statement.

Mott said her organization is working with police and is offering a $1,500 reward for information leading to a conviction. Police ask anyone with information about the poisonings to contact Capt. Mark Velez at (310) 378-4211.