Found a peacock in the wild? Don’t call us ...

GROWING numbers of peacocks wandering wild around Sussex are proving such a problem that a wildlife charity is pleading for people not to call for its help.

The attractive but noisy birds are annoying people with unwanted early-morning alarm calls.

Previously, complaints have been made about the unpopular feathered visitors at Hurstpierpoint and now a furore has erupted over one that has taken up residence in a garden on the Haywards Heath-Lindfield border.

There have also been sightings of peacocks - thought to have escaped from captivity - in Ditchling, Wivelsfield, Chailey, Plumpton, and Newick.

So many calls have been made to the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service that the charity is now saying it does not have the time, money, or people to deal with all the calls.

Founder Trevor Weeks said: “We are wildlife rescue, and peacocks are not British wildlife, therefore we do not have a remit to deal with them.