A tail of intrigue.<\/p>\n
Dozens of peacocks \u2013 each worth around $2,000 \u2013 mysteriously vanished from the lush grounds of a historic California hotel, leaving the stunned staff suspecting a thief snatched their beloved birds.<\/p>\n
Just four of the 40 exotic birds, which freely roamed the Golden State property and delighted guests at weddings and other events, remain at the Ryde Hotel in Walnut Grove after the purported heist.<\/p>\n
Thirty-six peacocks mysteriously vanished from the Ryde Hotel. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not sure why anyone would do anything like this, but the staff is absolutely heartbroken,\u201d general manager David Nielsen said of the 36 missing peacocks. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey really meant a lot to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nielsen explained that hotel staff became aware of the potential theft on Sunday after a guest spotted two men grabbing the pricey peafowls and placing them in a cage on the bed of a pickup truck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The birds were known for freely roaming around the lavish Walnut Grove property. Google maps<\/p>\n
He said the friendly fowls were comfortable with human interaction, which likely made it easier for the alleged thieves to capture them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The shocking incident is now being investigated as a property crime, with the male peacocks valued at $2,000 each, and the peahens at around $1,000, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The plumed beauties have become a hallmark of the lavish getaway spot, which sits along the Sacramento River, after the owner initially brought in five to wander the grounds 14 years ago \u2014 a small group that quickly blossomed into a thriving flock. <\/p>\n
Local police are investigating the incident as a property crime. AP<\/p>\n
Staff members and guests frequently offered the feathered showpieces leftover steak and salmon, with the Rafe Goorwitch, the hotel\u2019s catering coordinator, feeding at least 15 peacocks twice a day. <\/p>\n
He affectionally named the largest bird Alibaba, or Baba for short, because it strutted around the hotel, which displays a litany of peacock artwork, like it owned the place and often acted \u201clike a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
General manager David Nielsen said his staff is heartbroken about the suspected theft. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cI joked with the owner that we worked for Baba because he would walk through the dinner rooms, the ballrooms and the garden with this attitude that he was the boss,\u201d Goorwitch said. <\/p>\n
The heart-wrenching disappearance has since prompted staff to install more security cameras around the hotel as they anxiously hold out hope the iridescent creatures will return home. <\/p>\n
With Post wires. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tail of intrigue. Dozens of peacocks \u2013 each worth around $2,000 \u2013 mysteriously vanished from the lush…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[17645,49,3335,48,17646,17647,66,17648,886,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-20952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-birds","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-hotels","13":"tag-peacocks","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-theft","16":"tag-us-news","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}