Fowl play in La Cañada

At about 2:15 p.m. last Thursday (July 10) a suspect allegedly attacked a newer black Toyota Camry that was parked in front of a residence in the 1000 block of El Vago Street. The suspect caused damage to both sides and the front of the vehicle. A gardener next door to the residence witnessed the incident and quickly notified the homeowner. “The gardener was really alarmed; he didn’t speak much English, but he pointed out [the suspect who] was standing within 25 feet of the car, in an aggressive stance,” said Lisa Phelan, who lives at the residence. Phelan’s husband, Scott, carpools with the vehicle’s owner, Brian Epperson of Alta Loma. The car was not damaged when the two men left for work that morning, she said. What’s even more disturbing, she added, is that though she was able to chase the suspect away from the vehicle, he returned later that day to create additional damage. And, with his brightly colored attire, there was no question that this suspect made no attempt to flee or disguise himself, he even appeared proud of his act of vandalism.

Evidently a peafowl saw his reflection in the shiny, black metal of the vehicle and believed he was attacking a rival peacock, Phelan said. “And this isn’t an isolated incident,” she said. “I’ve seen peacocks attack hubcaps and other shiny cars before.” Perhaps even more disturbing for Phelan than the response from the Sheriff’s department, was what she heard when she called La Cañada’s City Hall, believing the city to be responsible for the incident damages, since the city has a peacock management plan. “I talked to Peter Castro, the public safety coordinator, and he didn’t feel the city was responsible — because the peacock is a wild animal,” she said, adding that Castro told her that Epperson “would have to file a claim against the city, if he decides to, or his insurance could go after the city, but [Castro] felt it wouldn’t be paid.” ... Controlling wild birds in the La Cañada Highlands, as well as other portions of the city, isn’t a new problem. In part, that’s because peacocks have been in La Cañada longer than many residents, according to local lore that the Highlands area was originally a large peacock farm. The city’s peacock management plan calls for no trapping of the birds during mating season — April through August — or during molting season — when peacocks, who have blood feathers, could bleed to death if their feathers snag while being trapped, said Kevin Chun, director of administrative services for the city of La Cañada Flintridge. Between October and December, the management plan calls for a census to be conducted of peafowl. It’s during that time that the birds are counted and — if there are determined to be “too many,” with more than the prescribed ratio of two male per five female birds — some of the birds would be trapped and moved to another location. The Pasadena Humane Society performs trapping, Chun previously said.