While on his way to work at St. John's Island on Wednesday (3 January), 27-year-old civil servant Sashi, spotted this white peacock (pictured right) near the Tropical Marine Science Institute building.

The sight of the bird shocked Sashi as he had "never seen or heard of a white peacock before".

Later at work, Sashi described the peacock to his colleagues who told him that there are only 3 white peacocks on the island and they are all males because the females have unfortunately been hunted and eaten by the construction workers in that area.

Sashi was sad to hear the "tragic news" and he hopes that "something will be done to help these peacocks survive and reproduce as they are not native to Singapore."

Earlier in December, another STOMP user caught sight of this white peacock. Lim Choon Ping, 33, was passing by the Tropical Marine Science Institute building when the bird was perched on a pillar there (pictured left).

"I tried to have a closer look but I was unable to because it gets frightened when you try to approach it," he said.

A check with the operations manager at Jurong Bird Park, Nicholas Cordeiro, revealed that it was an Albino Peacock that was spotted.

Said Mr Cordeiro, "It's a fairly rare species, let alone to spot one here in Singapore, as this bird is native to India."

A check with the Tropical Marine Science Institute revealed this:

"The white peacock that was photographed belongs to Sentosa but it and another peacock (usual colour) have been roving around our institute for the past few years. Some of our staff has been feeding them quite regularly and they have become quite tame."