Who let the peacocks out?

The inhabitants of a small seaside village are terrified by out-of-control, aggressive birds: this may sound like the plot for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film ‘The Birds’, but it’s actually a real-life story unfolding in a small village in the town of Ravenna, Italy.

In the Italian seaside village of Punta Marina, peacocks have become an unlikely source of division, with residents clashing over the growing number of birds roaming the town. pic.twitter.com/WZx9xKrydt

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) May 13, 2026

The Telegraph reported:

“The inhabitants of Punta Marina say they are being driven to distraction by the birds, which keep them up at night with their strident screeches, eat the flowers in their gardens, damage their cars, and deposit droppings all over the place.

Until a few years ago, there were a handful of peacocks living in the seaside resort, which is close to the city of Ravenna. Locals say they proliferated during the Covid pandemic, taking advantage of the absence of vehicles and people in the streets during the long months of lockdown.

There are now estimated to be around 120 of the elegant but noisy birds living in Punta Marina.”

Love-crazed peacocks invade Italian seaside village causing traffic chaos and car damage

Around 120 wild peacocks have swarmed Punta Marina on Italy’s Adriatic coast during mating season, climbing onto parked cars, scratching paintwork with their claws and covering streets in… pic.twitter.com/LgD3fZvpFO

— G R I F T Y (@GriftReport) May 13, 2026

Residents say that the male peacocks keep pecking at cars, mistaking their reflections for rivals.

Some of the birds take refuge in an abandoned apartment block, where they are not undisturbed.

“’The building is right next to my house and every day I see at least 30 of them’, said Riccarda Nolo, a resident. ‘The peacocks took up residence in the abandoned garden around three years ago. I sleep two hours a night, maximum, because I’m woken at 3am by their calls.

My alarm goes at 4.30am because I have to go to work. Sooner or later, I’m going to go mad. To say nothing of the €1,000 I had to spend to fix my roof after they shifted lots of the tiles, which let the rain in. I can’t stand it any longer’.”

Invasion of the peacocks leaves Italian town crying fowl https://t.co/NER0h1tyJP

— The Times and Sunday Times (@thetimes) May 14, 2026

Read more:

THE BIRDS: Hitchcock Movie Comes to Life as Seagulls’ Attacks of People and Pets Spiral Out of Control in Scotland

The post Small Italian Village Besieged by Peacocks Running Amuck, Attacking Cars, Eating Flowers and Shrieking at Night appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.