ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County neighborhood is crying foul after the disappearance of their beloved peacocks, which residents say are being birdnapped.

  • Residents say men are stealing peacocks in their neighborhood
  • A similar incident happened in Coconut Grove last year 
  • The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating

Some in the Robinsdale subdivision of Conway say their peacock population has been shrinking the past few months.

Joel Buntin, who has lived in the area his whole life, loves the peacocks. But one day, he said he saw men jump out of a red truck and into his yard.

“It was two guys rolled up in front of my house, and the guy in the passenger seat jumped out," Buntin said. "(They) grabbed a long pole with a net on the end, like a shrimping net, and started walking in my yard for the peacocks.”

A similar incident happened in South Florida last year. In Coconut Grove, a man driving a red pickup truck stole residential peacocks. Miami-Dade Police were contacted, but officers never caught the peacock bandit.

Other residents Spectrum News 13 spoke with say the men in the red truck told them they are county employees working for Animal Services. But Orange County tells us that’s not true, because their trucks are white and clearly marked.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating.