ORLANDO, Fla. — As many as 30 peacocks roam free in the Colonialtown North neighborhood near downtown Orlando.
Some residents said the colorful birds add a nice touch to the neighborhood, but the creatures are ruffling the feathers of other neighbors, who said the birds cause backups on North Bumby Avenue, because drivers stop to photograph them or to avoid striking them.
Resident Dennis Delia said one of his neighbors breeds the birds in his backyard and sells their feathers and eggs. Delia said he has spotted the birds in his trees at night.
"The birds make an ungodly noise," he said. "Every morning at 4:30, it sounds like somebody's strangling a baby outside your bedroom window."
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Resident Mary Alexander said she enjoys watching the birds stroll the neighborhood.
"A lot of people really care about them, and they love them," she said. "They're beautiful, and they're exotic, and they deserve to be there."
Alexander said she was devastated to learn that someone might have used fireworks or a flare gun to kill five of them.
"(The birds' owner) stopped me and said, 'Did you hear the banging the other night? We had five peacocks that were shot out of the tree,'" she said.
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Delia said he doesn't want the birds to be harmed, but he isn't surprised that it happened.
"The neighborhood is just outraged," he said.
The Orlando Police Department said no one filed a report about the five peacocks being killed.
Channel 9's Lauren Seabrook on Monday visited the owner's home, which was decorated with feathers and signs, but no one answered the door. The man was spotted from Skywitness 9 on Tuesday.
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The city of Orlando told Channel 9 Monday that there isn't a city ordinance protecting peafowl or regulating their existence in city limits. But after Channel 9 sent the city a hyperlink to the city's backyard chicken ordinance Tuesday, officials said raising peacocks isn't allowed.
Officials said the ordinance changed in October 2016, five months after it received complaints.
The city also said code enforcement cited the man's property six years ago for unpermitted structures, which it alleged were used to raise peacocks.
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There has been a daily $25 fine, the total amount of which exceeds $52,000.
The city said it filed a lien against the property in 2012 that will last for 20 years or until the fine is paid.
David Newman, a friend and neighbor of the man, told Channel 9 the structure protects the birds from heat and raccoons.
"He's here only to protect the birds," he said. "When the Navy left, they just left them on the property of the old base. He's taken it upon himself to just give them sanctuary."