Kellie Donoghue proceeds with trepidation when she takes her four dogs for a walk. Even though it’s broad daylight, she scans the streets before she makes a turn, vigilant for the omnipresent threat that’s taking over her Memorial-area neighborhood.

She’s checking the roads, tree tops and bushes for peacocks.

For decades, peacocks — more accurately called peafowl — have stalked Donoghue’s Heathwood neighborhood, shrieking from homes and trees and charging at humans and pets.