Issue

In a quirky take on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, dozens of peacocks promenade through the streets of a small Italian village, driving residents crazy with their mating calls. We can see these birds, with their long iridescent tails, perched on roofs and fences in Punta Marina, a seaside village in the Emilia-Romagna region near Ravenna.

The city’s prestigious mosaics from the ancient era bear witness to the birds’ presence in the region for centuries. Although there has been no official census in the village, these birds are believed to number around 120 in Punta Marina, where no predator seems to bother them.

But for Marco Manzoli, 81, a retired bus driver, it is mainly troublemakers that produce a lot of droppings. “Their population has exploded over 30 years and is now too large: they disrupt sleep, hinder traffic and soil the ground with droppings that resemble ice cream, in which people end up walking.”, he told AFP TV.

Not far away, six peacocks stroll nonchalantly at a crossroads, admiring their reflection in parked cars and shop windows. “The peacocks climb onto cars… and scratch them,” adds Mr. Manzoli, fearing that “tourists will stop vacationing unless they have a garage to park their car”.

The baker Claudio Ianiero, 64, told AFP TV that the peacocks had long lived in a pine grove behind the village, but they had begun seeking shelter from predators by nesting in the gardens of abandoned houses. “There they have many natural enemies, such as wolves and foxes. Here, however, they have none, and they are proliferating at a pace that’s difficult to control”, he said.

The Formation of Two Camps

As a peacock approached the bakery window, eyeing the butter croissants on display inside, Ianiero dismissed alarmist reports in the media about an invasion, a health emergency, or a forced exodus of residents.

The baker, who specializes in peacock-shaped cookies among other specialties, says that residents have lived in harmony with these birds for years. These crest-bearing birds, with their countless shades of blue, are “something magical” for Punta Marina, he believes.

But for Mara Capasso, a 57-year-old supermarket cashier, the issue of peacocks “has split the town into two camps”. She notes that some neighbors are awakened every night by the birds’ mating cries. The peacocks should be “taken to pine forests, woods, places where they can live in their natural habitat, because they should never live on concrete”, she continues.

Over the years, the Ravenna city hall, which oversees Punta Marina, has considered various strategies for managing the bird population. A relocation attempt in 2022 failed, largely due to opposition from animal-rights groups. This initiative could well bear fruit today, as “we are receiving adoption offers from all over Italy”, assures Mr. Ianiero.

Although the municipality launched a 2024 campaign to raise awareness among residents and visitors about coexisting with peacocks, including a request not to feed them, Emanuele Crescentini, a local resident, thinks more needs to be done.

Mr. Crescentini, 50, has dubbed himself the “forest ranger” of the peacocks, roaming the streets to shield the birds from inhabitants’ anger. “There is plenty of space in Punta Marina, they could spread out everywhere without causing any trouble”, he notes. “We could set an example of smart and mature coexistence. It’s entirely possible”, he adds.