Pete the peacock, adored by Las Vegas neighborhood, fatally shot by bow and arrow

By RIO YAMAT
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A beloved Las Vegas neighborhood peacock named Pete was killed with a hunter’s bow and arrow, and authorities are trying to find who was behind it.

Animal Protection Services officers are investigating the death of the peacock, which belonged to a resident in a small gated neighborhood but had come to be accepted as the neighborhood pet throughout the years.

Felicity Carter, a neighbor, said she found the bird Monday against a fence with an arrow sticking out of him. She wrapped Pete in a blanket and, with the help of other neighbors, took him to a veterinarian who specializes in exotic pets.

She said the staff rushed to treat him, even looking into getting a blood transfusion from another peacock. But they found Pete had actually been shot twice.

“I just don’t understand why someone would do this,” Carter said. “We all just want to find out who did this. We want justice for Pete.”

Several neighbors say they are heartbroken. They loved to feed Pete berries and found comfort in knowing he was always just around the corner, lounging in someone’s yard or chasing the garbage truck on Tuesday mornings. Even the homeowners association accepted Pete as a neighborhood fixture.

Carter said Pete will be remembered for his “very distinct personality.”

Pete often was seen admiring his reflection in the chrome detailing of cars parked in the neighborhood. The mail courier and landscapers knew Pete, too, and would drive carefully through the neighborhood in case he was on the street.

“He literally would walk down the middle of the street with his swagger on display like he owned the joint,” Carter said, laughing.

Carter described it a happy accident how Pete came to be a resident in this neighborhood. Pete’s owner, she said, claims that years ago, the peacock randomly showed up at his doorstep. He decided to keep it.

Soon, everybody knew Pete, and other residents chipped in to take care of him.

Now the neighborhood is too quiet — and less colorful — without him, Carter said.

The neighborhood’s homeowners association sent out an email asking residents to check their surveillance cameras for any video footage that could help catch the killer.

In Las Vegas, animal cruelty is a misdemeanor offense with a penalty of up to six months in jail and a maximum $1,000 fine.

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Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed.