On one occasion, “a gull flew off with an entire steak, just as the waiter lifted the lid off the plate he was serving it on”, Enrico Mazzocco, manager of the Monaco & Grand Canal hotel, told UK’s The Times.
The omnipresence of these food snatchers in the famous lagoon city in Italy has become increasingly problematic over the last few years. In 2016, the New York Post said, "Violent seagulls are turning Saint Mark’s Square in Venice into a scene straight out of Hitchcock’s spine-tingler 'The Birds'".
They steal food from bar tables, from paper bags and even directly from people's hands. But now, Venice's hoteliers' association (AVA) have decided the attacks must come to an end. And they've hit on water pistols as a novel solution – and diners encouraged to take aim to keep the thieving birds away.
The Monaco & Grand Canal hotel have chosen to equip their customers with water pistols as have the Gritti Hotel.
Paolo Lorenzini, Director of the Gritti, has also insisted they should be orange as bird experts have confirmed this color is particularly repugnant to the gulls.
"As soon as they see the pistols, they fly away", Lorenzoni told ANSA news agency. "You don't even need to use them, you just need to keep them on the table”.
The AVA have also been discussing other tactics to keep the marauding birds at bay after tourists have been understandably alarmed by their aggressive behavior! Other solutions under discussion include hiring a falconer to hunt the gulls or deterring them with a special acoustic system or unpleasant odors (albeit ones that cannot be perceived by human beings).
Gulls have overtaken pigeons as the primary avian blight on the city in recent years
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