Israeli Police Say Nevermore to Raven’s Not So Gentle Rapping

A flock of ravens flew into homes and attacked people in a neighborhood outside Tel Aviv in what one resident said Thursday looked like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds.”

Police shot and killed one of the large black birds after several residents of Yahud, a town about 6 miles east of Tel Aviv, complained that about 20 ravens had perched on nearby trees and were harassing residents, Israel Radio reported.

Two people suffered scratches in the attacks before police killed the most aggressive bird Wednesday night, the radio said.

The Maariv newspaper published a picture of a policeman holding the dead raven, which had a wing span of about three feet.

“This raven was evil. It had frightening black eyes, large wings and a large beak,” Yahud resident Pazit Sasson was quoted as saying.

Another woman said the ravens had been a problem in the neighborhood for more than a month.

“The birds would fly around the houses and bother us when we were sleeping,” said the woman, who was not identified. “For two weeks we have been sleeping with closed shutters and windows.”

A police spokesman said the neighborhood was quiet Thursday.

Eliezer Frankenberg, coordinator for wild animal protection at Israel’s Nature Reserve Authority, said he did not expect the birds to continue harassing the area.

“Ravens are very smart,” Frankenberg said. “If one of them is killed, the others will quickly learn not to attack.”