Dozens of peacocks and peahens go missing from Northern California hotel
WALNUT GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of peacocks and peahens known for wandering the grounds of a historic Art Deco hotel in the Sacramento Delta are missing, and the hotel staff said Tuesday they believe the birds were stolen.
After a customer at the Ryde Hotel mentioned Sunday seeing two men grabbing one of the birds and putting it inside a cage on the bed of a pickup truck, the staff did a count and realized only four of their exotic birds remained, David Nielsen, the hotel's general manager, said.
'We're not sure why anyone would do anything like this, but the staff is absolutely heartbroken,' Nielsen said.
Authorities are investigating the case as a property crime. The male birds are valued at $2,000 each and the peahens at $1,000 each, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesperson at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office. He didn't share any additional information.
The owner purchased five of the birds to wander the grounds 14 years ago. They reproduced 'to the point that they became a signature of the hotel,' Nielsen said. Peacocks are common in Art Nouveau design.
Staff fed them leftovers of filet mignon, prime rib and salmon, and over time, the birds became tamer. They got used to people, and the employees began seeing them as pets, even naming some of them.
Rafe Goorwitch, the hotel's catering coordinator, said he fed a group of about 15 peafowls twice every day. He named the biggest one Alibaba, Baba for short, because he would walk through the hotel like he owned the place.
'I joked with the owner that we worked for Baba because he would walk through the dinner rooms, the ballrooms and the garden with this attitude that he was the boss,' Goorwitch said.
Peacocks tend to be aloof, but Baba "became like a dog,' he said.
Since the news about the missing birds became public, people have been calling the hotel with tips and possible sightings, including reports of neighbors with new peacock pets, Nielsen said.
Hotel staff are hoping the birds are found and returned home. For now, the hotel has added better and more surveillance cameras, and there are plans to add more fencing.
'They really meant a lot to us,' Nielsen said.
___
Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.
Solve the daily Crossword

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hamilton Spectator
25 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Landlord jailed for decades in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American family has died
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A landlord jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died. Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen. The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which started days earlier. Czuba died Thursday in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing the Will County Sheriff's Office. The law enforcement agency did not return a call seeking comment on the death. Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office, said in a statement on Saturday that 'this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well.' Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict. The family had been renting rooms in Czuba's home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened. Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy's mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war , which had erupted days earlier. Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives. The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds, and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .


New York Post
40 minutes ago
- New York Post
Ghislaine Maxwell still mulling whether to testify before Oversight Committee, her attorney says
Ghislaine Maxwell is still weighing whether she will testify before Congress even though the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed her to do so. Earlier this week, the powerful Oversight panel subpoenaed Maxwell for a deposition on Aug. 11 due to the 'immense public interest and scrutiny' surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case. 'Congress has asked her to testify, we have to make a decision about whether she will do that or not,' her attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters Friday. 'We haven't gotten back to them on whether we'll do that.' The statement signals Maxwell is still mulling whether to plead the Fifth Amendment or other privileges to fend off the subpoena. Should she take the Fifth, the Oversight panel could offer her some type of immunity in a bid to get her to talk. 4 Ghislaine Maxwell could plead her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid testifying before the House Oversight Committee. 4 Attorney David Oscar Markus has argued that Ghislaine Maxwell was unfairly convicted. AP On Thursday and Friday, Maxwell spoke with US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump's former defense attorney, about the Epstein case. The unusual meeting between Maxwell and Blanche for a type of interview that is typically left for lower-level Justice Department officials comes amid a public firestorm over the infamous pedophile, who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019. Maxwell, a British socialite, was found guilty in 2021 of child sex trafficking and engaging in a scheme to exploit minors with Epstein and sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison. Markus, who previously did a podcast episode with Blanche before the latter became the US deputy attorney general, said he was proud of his client's performance when asked if the interview altered the calculus of whether she would comply with the Oversight Committee's subpoena. 'I think Ghislaine did a wonderful job. She literally answered every question. She didn't say that 'I'm not going to talk about this person,' ' Markus said. 'She was asked maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody, and she didn't hold anything back.' 4 Ghislaine Maxwell is serving out a 20-year prison sentence. REUTERS Markus also claimed 'there have been no asks and no promises' made to get her to agree to the interview with Blanche, including the possibility of a pardon from Trump. Earlier Friday, Trump said he hasn't yet contemplated a pardon, but noted, 'I'm allowed to do it.' Maxwell is currently serving out her sentence, something that her legal team has been appealing all the way up to the Supreme Court. Former Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz has publicly claimed Maxwell 'knows everything' about the convicted child sex offender's crimes. The Trump administration and Republicans have come under intense pressure from the MAGA base to give the public more answers about Epstein. The push for information comes after a July 6 memo from the DOJ and FBI memo said there was insufficient evidence to suggest Epstein even had an 'incriminating client list.' Democrats have sought to exploit the Epstein scandal and put Republicans on the spot with attempts to force a vote to publicly divulge the documents on the notorious sex predator. 4 House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has pursued testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell. Getty Images Those efforts resulted in the floor of the House of Representatives effectively becoming frozen due to GOP leadership's efforts to scuttle a Democratic effort to force a vote on Epstein. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his deputies have been keen to stick with Trump on the Epstein controversy. As a result, Republican leadership decided to send the lower chamber home for the August recess a day early. 'We want full transparency,' Johnson (R-La.) told CBS News' 'The Takeout with Major Garrett' Wednesday. 'We want everybody who is involved in any way with the Epstein evils — let's call it what it was — to be brought to justice as quickly as possible.' 'We want the full weight of the law on their heads.' Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) have cooked up a discharge petition, which will allow them to get a vote without GOP leadership's blessing, on a bill to force the release of the Epstein files. That discharge petition is poised to ripen when the House reconvenes in September from the August recess. Trump has expressed support for additional public disclosures in what he has dubbed the 'Epstein hoax' and backed a push by US Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue court approval for releasing grand jury testimony.


San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Vandals set fire to a mouse statue that's a TV star and mascot for a German broadcaster
BERLIN (AP) — Vandals set fire to a mouse statue that's a TV star and mascot for children's programming at German broadcaster WDR, the television station said Saturday. The cartoon mouse, known only as 'Die Maus,' is the eponymous star of 'Die Sendung mit der Maus' (The Show with the Mouse) since it first aired in West Germany in 1971. Each short episode features other languages and educational segments. The statue — featuring the character's famous orange body with brown ears, arms and legs — greets families and children outside a media building in Cologne, Germany. A receptionist for WDR saw several young people standing around the statue in Cologne on a camera feed overnight Friday into Saturday. She then noticed flames and called the fire department, WDR said. The fire blackened parts of the mouse's face and arm, images show. The station said a police complaint had been filed against an unidentified person. Matthias Körnich, head of children's programming for WDR, said it's not just a figurine that was damaged. 'A piece of childhood, a symbol of joy and togetherness has been attacked,' he said. 'The mouse belongs to Cologne.'