Peacock ‘invasion’ of Italian seaside town ruffles feathers | Italy

FEderico Bruni was sitting on a bench and eating. piadina romagnola (A flatbread sandwich) and was minding his own business when a peacock strutted up hoping for a few crumbs. High-pitched sounds emanated from the direction of the disused military barracks across the road. “That would be a call to love,” Bruni said. “Male peacocks are courting females; we are in peak mating season.”

Another pair of peacocks might mistake this for a wildlife park as their iridescent trains sweep past, sweeping the pavement behind them. But the scene is a seaside town on the Adriatic coast of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region that has been colonized by birds, to the joy or despair of its roughly 1,000 residents.

The birds have nested in the gardens of abandoned properties, perched on roofs and fences, or peered out from between trees. They navigate traffic carefully, sometimes tapping their beaks on the windows of parked cars after catching their reflections. The Guardian saw someone shamelessly jump over the door of an apartment block and defecate on the entrance stairs.

They don’t bother Bruni, who frequently comes to his vacation home in Punta Marina. “It’s no different than seeing a cat, they’re actually part of the fabric of the town,” he said.

Others are less welcoming. “There are so many,” said Francesco, who preferred not to give his last name. “They jump over the wall and onto my balcony, leaving feces behind. But the main thing is mating; the screams keep people awake.”

His relative Marco said: “Every time I come to Francesco’s house, I step in the peacock poop outside. It’s unhygienic; the peacocks need to be controlled.”

Some say the peacock, a bird of Indian origin, was introduced to the European continent by Alexander the Great, or even earlier. Their populations are well established in parts of Europe, particularly the UK and Spain, and although some have been reported in Italy, their presence in Punta Marina is particularly notable.

Historically a symbol of immortality, peacocks feature in many of the precious Byzantine mosaics of nearby Ravenna, and over the centuries they became status symbols, adding color to the magnificent gardens of Emilia-Romagna’s once wealthy inhabitants.

How they settled in Punta Marina is a mystery; however, there are reports that they were brought over as pets by a resident more than 20 years ago.

“I heard that a male peacock, left alone after the woman died, crossed paths with a female peacock in the old military barracks; they mated and it all started from there,” said Ilaria Sansavini, the owner of a shop selling fresh pasta. He said the birds were strongly supported. “This is their season of love and it is necessary to leave them alone.”

Peacocks long lived in the sprawling pine forest behind the town. But then Covid came in 2020 and peacocks roamed freely for months while people were in lockdown. Occasionally people they encountered persuaded them to return by giving them food.

There is no official data on their numbers in Punta Marina, but the population is estimated at 10 in 2018, 40 in 2023, and around 120 today.

Rosario Balestrieri, an ornithologist at the Naples-based Anton Dohrn zoological station, said: “The pine forest serves as a preferred habitat and nesting refuge… but additional feeding actively provided by the local population has encouraged steady population growth.”

While people may be accustomed to the more prominent presence of birds at this time of year, a disgruntled female resident’s recent social media post during mating season imitate the mating cry It went viral and created a media frenzy.

A local police officer said some reports depicting an “invasion” of peacocks driving people away from the town because of a possible threat to public health were greatly exaggerated.

Still, high-profile tensions have left Ravenna’s city council facing a dilemma, as it has grappled with how to manage Punta Marina’s peacock population in recent years. An attempt to move them was opposed in 2022, after which Clama, a voluntary animal rights charity, was appointed to protect the peacocks and promote harmony.

To inform residents and tourists about the birds, Clama prepared brochures and posted signs saying that the birds should never be fed.

“If they know it’s easier to come into town and have a sandwich instead of searching for their own food in the pine forest, then of course they’ll keep coming back,” said Clama volunteer Cristina Franzoni, adding that people who feed the peacocks could be fined. “They feed peacocks because they love them, but unfortunately, in doing so, they upset the neighbors who don’t like peacocks.”

“Peacock rangers”, who can be called upon to clear poop from streets, homes or car tyres, have also been deployed to ease tensions as the council plans the first official peacock count.

Other parts of Italy have offered to “adopt” the birds, but Franzoni said removing the birds was not the solution and would lead to “trauma”. He said: “Instead of making them victims of our choices, we should try to live with them; they didn’t choose to come here, we brought them here and so we should respect them.”