Beloved Peacock Shot Dead After Craigslist Ad Took Out A Hit On The Bird

Sent in from: Octopus Pancake

A California neighbourhood is in mourning after a local peacock was killed in cold blood, just weeks after an ad appeared on Craigslist calling for the bird to be taken out.

Mr. P, or Azul, was a frequent and much-loved presence in Azealia Heights, McKinleyville for more than five years, but was shockingly found dead of an apparent gunshot wound last week.

Local resident Melissa Glass said that she and other families often left food out for the bird, and said the neighbourhood had been rocked by the killing, describing Mr. P as a ‘kind of community mascot’. But it seems like not everyone was a fan. As news of Mr. P’s death spread, one local resident spotted an ad on Craigslist that appeared to call for a hitman to take out the neighbourhood peacock.

‘The job is simple… get rid of a wild peacock that is disrupting our lives,’ the since-deleted ad read. ‘Please contact me so we can form a strategy to eliminate this bird, and also to agree on how much you will be compensated.’

The ad, which was first reported by Lost Coast Outpost, included detailed information of the bird’s whereabouts and daily movements, including a map of the local area. As for the person’s reason for wanting to hire a peacock assassin? The ad explains ‘this bird wakes me up every morning at around 5-5:30am, and continues calling for about 3 hours’.

Unfortunately for the would-be hitman-hirer, he forgot to crop his own location out of the Google Maps screenshot included in the ad, meaning he was quickly identified by local residents. According to Lost Coast Outpost, who contacted the suspect, he refused to deny taking out the ad but denied doing anything wrong, saying, ‘I’m not answering anything unless you can tell me if a crime has been committed.’

While the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said that the killer could face charges of discharging a firearm and animal cruelty, local resident Glass said she wasn’t optimistic that the culprit would be caught, with the case a ‘low priority’ for local law enforcement.

‘It is appalling to me that there are no consequences for someone taking a hit out on our pet,’ Glass told Lost Coast Outpost. ‘The person who lives under that map marker knew very well that it was loved by many.’

CLICK FOR ORIGINAL STORY
https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/beloved-peacock-shot-dead-after-craigslist-ad-took-out-a-hit-on-the-bird/