Purloined peacocks: Disappearance of birds from famed Delta hotel a mystery most fowl

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 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.