Under Arcadia’s peacock laws, it is a misdemeanor to feed, harm, or harass the city’s feral peafowl, and a single violation can bring a fine of up to $1,000, six months in jail, or both. The rules are stricter than most residents expect, and they apply on your own property as much as on public streets. The city also will not remove a healthy bird from your yard, so coexistence is the default the ordinances assume.
Feeding Is Illegal Everywhere in the City
Arcadia Municipal Code Section 4137 prohibits feeding peafowl anywhere within city limits. The original version of the ban applied only on public property. In 2022, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 2389 to extend the prohibition onto private property after residents kept drawing birds into their yards with food.1City of Arcadia. Ordinance No. 2389
Direct feeding is only part of it. Leaving food where peafowl can reach it counts too. Scattered grain, seeds, bread, or kitchen scraps on the ground are violations, and so are open containers of food left outdoors. Songbird feeders are a common trap: if a feeder is positioned where peafowl can get at it, the city treats that as a violation of the feeding ordinance. You are responsible for keeping your property free of anything that functions as a food source for the birds, whether you meant to feed them or not.
Harming or Harassing Peafowl Is Also Banned
Separate provisions in the Municipal Code make it illegal to harm, harass, or otherwise interfere with peafowl. The protections are broad. Chasing birds out of your yard, throwing objects at them, hitting them, or trying to capture them all qualify. Disturbing peafowl while they are nesting or roosting is treated as harassment as well.
These rules follow the birds wherever they go, including onto your driveway or into your garden. In practice, you are expected to tolerate their presence even when it is inconvenient. Passive deterrents are the acceptable route: motion-activated sprinklers, reflective tape, netting, and similar measures that discourage the birds without targeting them. Anything aimed at the birds themselves that could injure or significantly disturb them risks a citation.
Penalties and Enforcement
Each violation of the feeding or harassment ordinances is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both.1City of Arcadia. Ordinance No. 2389 Los Angeles County later modeled its own peafowl feeding ban on Arcadia’s law, using the same penalty structure.2The Washington Post. Los Angeles County Cracks Down as Peacocks Ruffle Feathers
Code enforcement officers can issue citations based on their own observations or on verified complaints from neighbors. If you receive a citation, you can request an administrative hearing to contest it. The maximums sound heavy for feeding a bird, and in routine cases a fine is far more likely than jail, but the penalty structure signals that these are enforceable criminal provisions.
What the City Will and Will Not Do About a Peacock in Your Yard
The most common misconception is that you can call the city to have a peafowl removed. According to Arcadia’s own peafowl information pamphlet, if a peacock is not injured and is not threatening your family, neither the City of Arcadia nor the Pasadena Humane Society will intervene.3City of Arcadia. Peafowl and Their Long History in Arcadia A healthy bird on your car or in your garden is not something anyone will come remove.
If a peafowl is visibly injured, you can contact the Pasadena Humane Society for help with the animal. If the birds are creating a safety hazard, such as blocking traffic or behaving aggressively, Arcadia’s code enforcement or non-emergency police line is the right call. Otherwise, the city’s position is that peafowl are free-roaming animals residents are expected to live alongside.
Living With the Birds Within the Law
Noise
Peafowl are loudest during mating season, roughly March through August, when males produce calls that can exceed 100 decibels and start before dawn. Arcadia’s noise ordinances contain no exemption that lets you act against the birds, because no one owns or controls them. Chasing them off or using loud deterrents aimed at them could cross into harassment. Closing windows, running white noise machines, and planting sound-dampening landscaping are the practical options.
Vehicle and Property Damage
Peacocks attack their own reflections in car paint, leaving scratches, dents, and droppings on hoods and roofs. They also damage gardens, rooftop materials, and outdoor furniture. Because feral peafowl are not owned by anyone, including the city, there is generally no party to hold liable for the damage. A claim against the city for a free-roaming wild animal is not comparable to a claim against a neighbor whose dog did the harm. Car covers, strategic parking, and garden netting are the standard preventive measures.
Droppings and Health Risk
Large accumulations of droppings can harbor Histoplasma capsulatum, the fungus that causes histoplasmosis when airborne spores are inhaled during cleanup or soil disturbance.4Mayo Clinic. Histoplasmosis – Symptoms and Causes Most infections produce no symptoms, but severe cases can affect the lungs, liver, and brain. For significant buildup, the Mayo Clinic recommends hiring a hazardous waste removal company rather than cleaning it yourself. Wetting the area down before any disturbance reduces airborne spores, and an N95 respirator is a minimum precaution if you do the work on your own.
Reporting a Violation
If you see someone feeding, chasing, or harming peafowl, report it to Arcadia’s Code Services Enforcement division, which handles investigations and issues citations.5City of Arcadia. Code Services Enforcement For an injured or aggressive bird, contact the Pasadena Humane Society or Arcadia’s non-emergency police line. Photos or video taken before you call will strengthen the report.