I can’t find any mention of the specific species of peafowl the man had. My personal guess is that it’s just a stock image of a peacock. None of the articles below mention the species, but one does have the same mugshot.
The 61-year-old man from Hudson, Florida, was arrested last week on a third-degree felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty, according to an affidavit from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
The man told investigators that he had killed the two peacocks because his neighbor kept feeding them. He had written the neighbor a letter telling her that he would continue to kill his pet peacocks if she kept feeding them “to prove a point,” according to the affidavit, which didn’t say how many peacocks he kept.
The man “admitted to killing the bird by cutting the bird’s neck out of spite, then bleeding it out, and then later eating the bird after cooking it on a frying pan,” the affidavit said.
So it doesn’t seem so simple as him merely getting arrested for deciding to eat one of his peafowl.
Killing an endangered animal and cruelty to animals are separate statutes. So I think it’s safe to safe it’s not an endangered peafowl.
I don’t care enough to pull the man’s actual court records and see if he was also charged with Intentional killing or wounding of any species designated as endangered, threatened, or of special concern.
If anyone wants to sleuth on this further, feel free.
I can’t find any mention of the specific species of peafowl the man had. My personal guess is that it’s just a stock image of a peacock. None of the articles below mention the species, but one does have the same mugshot.
https://apnews.com/article/peacocks-killed-florida-man-arrested-e1466f377234c6bc30f3c761c09f4607
https://nypost.com/2025/09/30/us-news/florida-man-arrested-for-allegedly-killing-cooking-and-eating-pet-peacocks/
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-man-eats-pet-peacocks-dispute-neighbor-feeding-them-craig-vogt-pasco-county-sheriffs-office-tampa-bay/
Quoting the AP article,
So it doesn’t seem so simple as him merely getting arrested for deciding to eat one of his peafowl.
Killing an endangered animal and cruelty to animals are separate statutes. So I think it’s safe to safe it’s not an endangered peafowl.
I don’t care enough to pull the man’s actual court records and see if he was also charged with Intentional killing or wounding of any species designated as endangered, threatened, or of special concern.
If anyone wants to sleuth on this further, feel free.