21 June 2018

'Overwhelming' community support saves peacocks from being removed

| Lachlan Roberts
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Due to the community's support to keep the peacocks, the ACT Government said it had decided not to continue with the Plan in its current form. File Photo

Due to the community’s support to keep the peacocks, the ACT Government said it had decided not to continue with the Plan in its current form. File Photo

Peacocks will continue to have a home in and around Canberra’s southern suburb of Narrabundah due to “overwhelming” support from the local community to keep the bird in its current habitat.

Over 400 submissions were received during community consultation on the ACT Government’s draft Peafowl Management Plan, with the majority of respondents supportive of the peafowl remaining in the inner south.

Due to the community’s support to keep the peafowl, the ACT Government said it had decided not to continue with the Plan in its current form and will work with the local community to develop an agreed approach to the future management of the peafowl.

The ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, Meegan Fitzharris, said the community’s response “highlighted the community’s affection” for the peafowl and said she was overwhelmed by the discussion the Plan had generated amongst Canberrans.

“It’s great that so many people took the time to provide feedback to the ACT Government about this issue,” Ms Fitzharris said.

“We have read your comments, we have listened and I’m pleased to announce that we will not remove the peafowl from their current habitat.”

Ms Fitzharris said the Government recognised that the peafowl is an “integral part of the community” but it will not ignore the complaints they received about the colourful bird and will continue to work with the community to develop a management plan.

“From the consultation, it was clear that there is overwhelming support for the peafowl to remain,” she said.

“However, the ACT Government acknowledges that there have been a number of complaints over the years and it is important that these are not ignored and they will be taken into account as part of the community-led discussions.

“It’s great that through this consultation, the community has come together to come up with a way humans and peafowl can live in harmony. The next step will be to facilitate the formation of a community group that is representative of the community as a whole to assist with the development of a management plan.”

For more information on the next steps and to remain updated on the project, click here.

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I can’t understand why they thought the peacocks had to be removed at all. They weren’t harming anybody and had become a unique Canberra tourist attraction receiving publicity around the world. Surely instead of culling them the ACT government should be promoting them. In the same way we have wilderness and wildlife tours of Tidbinbilla we could have peacock watching tours.

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