Pet peacocks allowed but there are rules
NParks says they must be kept securely in bird-proof cage, house or enclosure
Peacocks can be kept as pets in Singapore, but there are rules that owners must abide by.
Responding to queries by The Straits Times after a pet peacock attacked a three-year-old girl in Serangoon Garden, the National Parks Board (NParks) said yesterday that members of the public can keep non-commercial poultry as pets - but only up to 10 of them. These include chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, quails, partridges, pheasants, domestic pigeons, guinea fowl, swans and peacocks.
Ms Jessica Kwok, group director of community animal management at the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS), a cluster under NParks, said: "These pets must be kept in a bird-proof cage, house or enclosure that consists of a fine wire mesh netting capable of preventing any contact with any bird, poultry or animal from outside the cage, house or enclosure; and a proper roof capable of preventing droppings, waste, feathers and other particles from any bird, poultry or animal from entering the cage, house or enclosure."
Those convicted of failing to comply with the Animals and Birds (Prevention of Avian Disease in Non-Commercial Poultry) Rules can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both.
Ms Kwok said on Wednesday that NParks is investigating the case of the girl who needed stitches on her face after a pet peacock attacked her on Sunday.
She was on her way home with her brother and father when she stopped outside a house to look at the peacock, her mother wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. The peacock is then said to have charged and attacked the girl.
Ms Kwok clarified yesterday that AVS did not inform the owners that they are not at fault, as investigations are ongoing.
"At the same time, we visited the owners' home today and observed that the peacock was caged in an enclosure, and have directed the owners that the bird is not allowed to roam outside its premises."
Neighbours said it could often be seen on the road outside the house as the owners would leave the gate open, but they did not feel threatened by it. They said other fowl, including a turkey, were kept in the house.
ST is aware of at least two other incidents of peacock attacks from that household.
In one of them, an undergraduate, who wished to be known only as Ms Koh, said she was attacked by a peacock in front of the house. The 25-year-old told ST she was heading home in August last year when a peacock blocked the pavement.
"I didn't know that peacocks attacked people so I just tried to walk around it, but it flew up and pecked my face with its beak. It knocked my glasses off and I fell down," said Ms Koh. She suffered a 1cm cut near her left eye and later filed a police report.
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