Escaped peacock spotted in tree in the Bronx

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Escaped peacock spotted in tree in the Bronx
Sonia Rincon is in the Bronx where a peacock was spotted in a tree Wednesday night.

BRONX, New York (WABC) -- There was quite the attraction in the Bronx Wednesday night where a peacock was spotted in a tree.

A crowd of people gathered around the bird, which was perched in a tree on E. 180th Street and Vyse Avenue.

Neighbors named the escaped peacock 'Raul,' who the Bronx Zoo is working off the assumption that it is one of their own.

Citizen App users have named the bird Raul.

The peacock was seen earlier in the day near the zoo.

Police and firefighters have been trying to catch the peacock, but have had no success so far.

Eyewitnesses say the bird has not only flown from tree to tree across the Mott Haven section, they say the peacock bit someone in the leg who was trying to catch it.

"He tried to trap it off of somebody's parking lot in someone's parking garage up the block," eyewitness Chris Gutter said. "Raul wasn't having it, Raul flew over the parking lot gate, started coming down here, he started to chase him over here, and I guess he got too close to Raul, Raul took a peck at him, he flew up in this tree first on this side and got tangled up and flew from here to over there and Raul has been over here for the past three hours now."

The FDNY confirmed that the peacock did attack a nearby bystander who suffered a minor injury.

It's not yet clear how the zoo plans to get the peacock back.

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