Is it a mystery that the number of peacocks are not increasing in the KBR Park

Why Hyderabad's peacocks aren't multiplying, and where the displaced ones are going.

Hyderabad: KBR Park, earlier known as Chiran Palace, is home to about 600 peacocks. With little variation, the number has remained the same over the years.

Why? Have the peacocks stopped breeding? Or is somebody at the official level trying to restrict the growth of peacocks at the park?

More likely, it is the Telangana State Forest Department, the custodian of KBR Park, that has decided to keep the number of peacocks at a certain level.

An unannounced policy

The KBR Park officials, following an unannounced official policy, have decided to keep the number of peafowl at a constant level. They believe that if the peafowl are allowed to multiply, they could become a menace to the public in the area.

It would be a nuisance because there are reports from villages around Hyderabad that the big birds frequent the area in flocks and leave the fields shaken, and even destroyed at times. The farmers, out of respect for the national bird, keep quiet and refrain from making formal complaints to government officials.

Spilling into the city

Facing congestion at KBR Park, the big birds have begun to move out of their habitat and find new venues in the city, especially those with forest-like settings. A businessman living on several acres of farmland near the Taj Krishna Hotel said the peacocks frequent his place. They fly away at night and stay during the day at his farm-like property.

A resident of Road Number 12, Banjara Hills, reveals that by 2 o’clock in the morning, he begins to hear fowl calls. Sometimes they are few in number, and at other times they grow into a chorus. The good thing is that they vanish within a few minutes. “But peacock calls are a frequent phenomenon in the area,” he said.

There is information that KBR Park officials collect peahen eggs and ship them off in dozens to other forest ranges in Telangana.

A better solution?

Wildlife enthusiasts in the city think that, instead of packing the eggs away from the city, the forest officials could create space for peafowl in two other national parks located around the city: Mrugavani, on the way to Gandipet, and Mahavir Harina Vanasthali, on the road to Vanasthalipuram. Both are located on huge tracts of land and are home to a variety of wildlife, including deer.

Whatever the most suitable way, let us not deplete KBR Park of its peacock population.