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.
A painting of a peacock is seen at the Ryde Hotel, where dozens of the birds have gone missing, Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Walnut Grove, Calif. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
The exterior of the Ryde Hotel, where dozens of peacocks have gone missing, is seen Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Walnut Grove, Calif. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
A peacock roams the grounds at the Ryde Hotel Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Walnut Grove, Calif. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
