Peacocks believed stolen from Ryde Hotel cast pall over historic Delta venue
The Ryde Hotel’s peacocks are missing by the dozens, believed stolen from the historic Sacramento River Delta hotel and wedding venue the birds have called home for more than a decade.
Just days ago, 40 of the Indian blue peafowl roamed the Ryde’s 10 acres in Walnut Grove on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, said Rafe Goorwitch, the hotel’s catering coordinator. Their number is now down to a handful.
Goorwitch said he was stopped by someone on the island tipping him to one of the suspected thefts.
“He said, ‘Did you know someone grabbed one of your peacocks?’” Goorwitch said. He said the tipster told him the culprit drove a pickup truck with a cage in the back.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office is on the case, but the peafowls’ disappearance is no less painful for the grand old hotel’s visitors and its employees who for years have watched the proud birds rule the roost.
“We just miss them terribly,” Goorwitch said. “They’re all over Grand Island, but there are a core 15 that I’d see every day. They’re definitely appreciated here.”
The peacocks are so much part of the Ryde Hotel’s identity that they have made their way into the historic resort’s branding. Its business cards are embossed with peacock feathers. Peacock-themed art adorns its walls. Peacock feathers are strewn about its Great Gatsby-era dining room.
The hotel’s star, perennially ready for his close-up, was Ali Baba.
The peacock strutted so majestically through the wings of the old hotel, Goorwitch said, that he and the other employees often joked they worked for the big bird.
“He was in full feather every year. We had coffee every day. He’d walk through the doors every day,” Goorwitch said. “He’s the one I miss the most.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office Walnut Grove station at 916-874-9472, or Ryde Hotel and Events Center at 916-776-1318.
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