{"id":266406,"date":"2026-05-11T10:10:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T10:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266406\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T10:10:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T10:10:52","slug":"gulfport-residents-say-they-are-seeing-more-peacocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/266406\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulfport residents say they are seeing more peacocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

GULFPORT, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Gulfport residents have noticed an increase in peacocks in their neighborhood.<\/p>\n

During an April Gulfport City Council meeting, a resident raised concerns that the peacock population could become too large.<\/p>\n

Then, at last week\u2019s city council meeting, residents came to speak in support of having the birds roaming their neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Peacocks can be seen from treetops to yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had two (peacocks) a year-and-a-half ago. Now, I saw 20 in one gathering,\u201d said resident Anne Lampru.<\/p>\n

Lampru has lived in Gulfport for about two years, and she said the peacocks like to snack on her vegetable garden.<\/p>\n

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said\u00a0peacocks have become established in communities across Florida<\/a> by escaping from properties or by being released.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Florida, and these birds were here long before all of us were,\u201d said Denise Moseley, co-founder and treasurer of the nonprofit group Birds In Helping Hands.<\/p>\n

The group helps injured animals, including peacocks, get back into the wild. Moseley said there are two reasons why there could be more of the colorful animal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new influx is basically because there aren\u2019t habitats where they should be, and it\u2019s bird season,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gulfport residents said that the peacocks can be seen from treetops to yards. (Spectrum News\/Randy Levine)<\/p>\n

FWC said that the birds can be a nuisance to people because they can strike reflective surfaces like cars and windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say that they\u2019re a nuisance. You can call them all kinds of different things, but they\u2019re still wildlife and they\u2019re going to be out in the wild,\u201d Moseley said.<\/p>\n

Gulfport City Council is not considering any action in relation to peacocks right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with most things, there\u2019s different opinions on the spectrum, and there are those that love them, and there are those that are not appreciating them, and then there\u2019s variables in between,\u201d said Gulfport Vice Mayor Marlene Shaw.<\/p>\n

If the birds are disturbing your property, the vice mayor and FWC are recommending natural deterrents like covering any reflective surfaces or using sprinklers to safely scare them off.<\/p>\n

Lampru resorts to a light spray from her hose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey go away nicely and I bid them farewell, \u2018Have a nice day,\u2019\u201d Lampru said.<\/p>\n

Lampru loves the birds, just not when they are in her garden. She said they are working on a compromise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as he stays in that half. He can have that half of the yard, this is my half, please,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

FWC does not manage peacocks.<\/p>\n

Private landowners and local municipalities can legally remove them from their private property in accordance with any local laws and animal cruelty laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GULFPORT, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Gulfport residents have noticed an increase in peacocks in their neighborhood. During an April Gulfport City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1684,767,274,770,1563,2200,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,2032,1374,835],"class_list":["post-266406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-animals","tag-app-community","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-environment","tag-instagram-bn9","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics","tag-tyler-oneill","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}