Rockport Rocks! Town Nabs PETA Award for Kind Approach to Window-Breaking Woodpecker

For Immediate Release:
May 5, 2025

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

A Good Neighbor Award is on its way from PETA to the town of Rockport in recognition of its residents finding creative and compassionate ways to respond to a pileated woodpecker who has been pecking at car mirrors and windows for several months, damaging at least 25 vehicles. Some experts believe the bird sees his reflection as a competitor and, to discourage the pecking, people have placed towels and opaque trash bags over the glass.

In a refreshingly magnanimous statement, Rockport resident Ben Favaloro told the Associated Press, “Everybody’s having a good laugh about it. Nobody wants harm to the bird. He’s always welcome back.”

“A little bird told us that Rockport locals are the good-hearted sort, and their compassionate approach to this determined woodpecker shows that humans and wildlife can co-exist peacefully,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges everyone to follow Rockport’s example by treating wildlife with the same respect and kindness they’d give to any other neighbor.”

PETA will send a framed certificate and delicious vegan chocolates to Rockport Select Board Chair Ross Brackett.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.