Peacock at Chungju pension attacks 4-year-old guest; owner fined W3m

A court has fined the owner of a pension in Chungju after a peacock kept on the premises attacked and injured a young guest.

According to legal sources Friday, Judge Kim Ju-hyeon of the Chungju Branch of Cheongju District Court sentenced a 58-year-old pension operator, identified only as A, to a fine of 3 million won ($2,040) on charges of negligent bodily injury.

A had been raising peacocks, rabbits and parrots at the pension for guests to observe as part of hands-on learning experiences.

Last August, one of the peacocks left its enclosure and attacked the face of a 4-year-old guest, identified as B, who was on his way to a barbecue area. B sustained injuries requiring two weeks of treatment.

During the trial, A acknowledged responsibility but argued that peacocks are gentle animals by nature and that something must have provoked the bird. The court rejected the argument.

"A person who keeps animals must recognize the possibility of an attack and install warning signs, or confine the animals when there is concern for the safety of visitors," the court said.

The court added that operators have a professional duty of care to protect guests from the animals they keep — including by posting additional staff — and that the defendant had been negligent in fulfilling that duty.