ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – Two peacocks who made themselves at home in a Rochester Hills subdivision were found dead within days of each other.
Richard MacDonald had to rub his eyes when he saw them the first time four years ago.
“One day I was looking out the window, and this was in February, and there’s two peacocks sitting on the railing of my deck,” he said.
Two male peacocks showed up in the subdivision near Silverbell and Kern roads. They were seen year-round perching where they saw fit. They also had a fondness for eating tomatoes out of the garden.
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“They make noise and do some other things but they are just beautiful birds and it has been a pleasure to have them around,” said neighbor Brian Diener.
The birds became neighborhood mascots and didn’t belong to anybody.
Suddenly both were found dead. One was shot through the heart with a crossbow and the other was found with a seriously injured wing and broken leg and later died.
“I just can’t imagine what’s going through your mind. How could you hurt something that beautiful?” MacDonald said.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. The use of the crossbow narrows the radius down for investigators in what is now an animal cruelty case.
Neighbors had become increasingly concerned about the birds making it through the cold weather and had arranged for them to be trapped in August when the majority of their feathers fall out and taken to live on a farm where they would have shelter from the elements.