A tight-knit Fort Lauderdale block is in mourning after a wild peacock that strutted the same small stretch of Southwest Sixth Court every day returned home gravely wounded and later died on an emergency trip to the vet, neighbors said. The bird, known up and down the street as Prosciutto, had become such a regular sight that residents treated him like a quirky, unofficial mascot. When the injuries showed up, neighbors scrambled to save him, only to watch a familiar piece of their daily routine slip away.
Neighbors describe devastating injuries
At a local veterinary clinic, X-rays revealed a BB pellet lodged in Prosciutto’s neck and another air-gun pellet embedded in a thigh muscle, neighbors said. Caretakers also learned the peacock was fighting a massive infection that appeared tied to blunt trauma to his head and neck. Neighbor Maria Guerrero told WSVN that Prosciutto had gone blind in his right eye and grown emaciated because he could not see well enough to find food. Guerrero said she rushed him for treatment, but he died while being transported on an emergency run back to the animal hospital.
GoFundMe launched to cover emergency care
In the middle of the crisis, a neighbor launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for Prosciutto’s emergency and follow-up care. The fundraiser page shows it began July 11 and had collected several hundred dollars toward a $2,500 goal. According to GoFundMe, the organizer wrote that rescuers finally located an avian veterinarian, but by then Prosciutto had already fallen seriously ill and slipped into lethargy. The page, along with neighbors’ online posts, captures a small community trying to split the costs and make sure what happened did not go unnoticed.
Peafowl in South Florida live in a legal gray area
Peafowl roam all over South Florida, but they are considered nonnative domestic fowl instead of protected wildlife. That classification means any official response to an injured bird depends heavily on local ordinances and whatever rescue resources happen to be available. University of Florida Extension materials note that municipal rules differ from place to place and that statewide protections are limited, leaving residents to navigate a confusing mix of policies. For the neighbors trying to help Prosciutto, that patchwork left them with few clear paths to long-term care or placement in a sanctuary.
Block grieving and calling for compassion
“It was horrifying. To fight so hard to save him, but also to know that this happened,” Guerrero told WSVN. She said Prosciutto had been persistent, friendly and ever-present around her home, a bright bit of daily chaos that neighbors had grown used to. Now, residents say they hope his story nudges people to show more empathy to the peafowl wandering through neighborhood yards. As they grieve the loss of a local fixture, they are also urging anyone who knows how the bird was injured to share that information with the proper authorities.
