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'I thought I was buggin': Roaming peacock bites Bronx man's leg
By
Phil Corso
and
Catalina Gonella
Published Apr 26, 2023
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via Citizen app
By
Phil Corso
and
Catalina Gonella
Published Apr 26, 2023
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A wild peacock bit a man in the Bronx on Wednesday who lived to tell the tale.
Emergency medical services were called to the scene of the bite on East 180th Street shortly after 8 p.m., the fire department confirmed to Gothamist, where an unnamed man suffered a minor injury and refused to be taken to a hospital. Video posted via the Citizen app shows the man explain how the ferocious pheasant was spotted roaming the streets, eventually biting his leg.
The man shows footage of the peacock from his phone, showing the animal strutting the street, with a timestamp dated 7:38 p.m.
"I thought I was buggin'," the man, identified as Mike, says in the video. "It started running up the hill to go into traffic. We had to try and keep the bird safe. We chased him all the way in. I trapped him inside the gate."
And that was when the peacock struck, he says.
"He got tied in the gate and I tried to pet and he grabbed my pants. Then the motherf*** flew in the tree!"
The video pans to a shadowy figure above, where the peacock seemed content, but wary of its next battle, should it present itself.
It was unclear where the peacock came from, or if it had been captured.
The alarming alert sent to Citizen app users sparked a series of Tweets about the bizarre event in a city where the pigeon is king.
It's not the first time a wild peacock was spotted in New York City. Another escaped peacock was on the loose in Queens in 2012 after escaping from John Bowne High School’s agricultural program.
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new york city
eric adams
public safety
bronx
Phil Corso
Phil Corso is the evening news editor at WNYC/Gothamist. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Catalina Gonella
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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