Conservation and Status
Indian Peafowl are widely distributed in the wild across South Asia and protected both culturally in many areas and by law in India. Conservative estimates of the population put them at more than 100,000. Illegal poaching for meat however continues and declines have been noted in parts of India. However, outside India eating peacock is legal. In China, a very profitable industry has been developed in peacock feeding, breeding, hatching, promotion, recovery, commodity processing, export and so on. Jiangxi Zong Technology Co. Ltd., which was established in 1998, currently, it has the world's largest breeding stock of peacocks (about ten thousand peacocks) and is known as the "Peacock King" in China.
Crosses between a male Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus and a peahen produces a stable hybrid called a "spalding", named after Mrs. Keith Spalding, a bird fancier in California. There can be a problem if birds of unknown pedigree are released into the wild, as the viability of such hybrids and their offspring is often reduced (see Haldane's Rule and outbreeding depression).
Poaching of peacocks for their meat and feathers; and accidental poisoning by feeding on pesticide treated seeds are known threats to wild birds. Methods to identify if feathers have been plucked or have been shed naturally have been developed as Indian law allows the collection of feathers that have been shed.
In parts of India, the birds can be a nuisance to agriculture as they damage crops. It's adverse effects on crops,however, seem to be offset by the beneficial role it plays by consuming prodigious quantities of pests such as grasshoppers. They can also be a problem in gardens and homes where they damage plants, attack their reflections breaking glass and mirrors, perch and scratch cars or leave their droppings. Many cities where they have been introduced and gone feral have peafowl management programmes. These include educating citizens on how to prevent the birds from causing damage while treating the birds humanely.
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