The Guardian published
an article on July 18, 2015, on the British Prime Minister’s debate about
culling seagulls. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, called for a ‘big
conversation’ about seagulls after some attacked a pet tortoise in Cornwall,
England. Stig the tortoise died two days later from his injuries. The seagulls
were denounced as ‘killer gulls.’
The seagulls
apparently turned the tortoise over, onto its back, rendering him helpless, and
pecked him to death. There were also reports that seagulls killed dogs in
England in the past three months. A Yorkshire terrier, called Roo, was attacked
by seagulls in Newquay garden and was so badly injured that the vet euthanized
it. In May 2015, a chihuahua puppy was attacked and killed by seagulls in a
garden in Honiton, Devon, Hence the issue about culling (killing) seagulls or
whether they should be protected has been discussed. Currently seagulls are a
protected species in England.
Pet owners are
nervous, and worried about further attacks.
In Ireland, a marine
expert called for some perspective on the debate. He warned that seagulls faced
a severe food crisis – which will worsen in 2016. This, he says, is the reason
for the increase in attacks by seagulls on small pets. The food crisis has
brought seagulls, a coastal bird, inland and into urban areas. The Irish Times
(July 25, 2015) indicated that part of the problem was the new European Union
(EU) rules which ban discards of fish at sea. Fisheries officers say that this
regulation will send more marine birds inland.
Other officials and
politicians say seagulls are ‘vicious’ and accuse them of ‘invading’ towns and
villages, calling for them to be culled. Marine scientists say that there is
insufficient evidence or research on the likely impact of the EU fish discard
ban which comes into force for all whitefish vessels from January 2016. The ban
was intended to ensure edible fish were not wasted by discarding them at sea.
However, fishery experts say that the EU extended the ban to all fish, meaning
that other inedible species can survive after being caught at sea and discarded
and will be brought to shore by law. Scavenger seabirds, such as seagulls, that
depend on fish caught by fishing boats will be forced to move inland.
Birdwatch Ireland (BI)
confirms that seagulls are scavenger birds – picking easy fish from fishery and
trawler nets. That is unlike other seabirds, such as terns, guillemots and
others, that have expert skills in finding and catching fish. However, BI said
people were not justified in ‘demonising’ seagulls. Most seagulls – accused of
being aggressive – were ‘just trying to protect vulnerable chicks and had no
interest in harming humans.’ Gulls have learned to associate humans with food –
but it is the food they want, not pets or humans.
Birdwatch Ireland said
herring gulls, or seagulls, have declined by 90% in the past ten years,
decreasing from 60,000 pairs to about 6,000 pairs in Ireland. The decline is
due to the loss of breeding areas and botulism from rubbish dumps. Because
seagulls are declining, BI says there is no need for a cull. BI is currently
conducting a survey of roof-nesting gulls as part of the Dublin City Urban
Birds project with Dublin City Council parks services (birdwatchireland).
Are people in danger
of ‘killer’ seagull attacks or are seagulls in danger of being demonised and
culled? Let’s watch Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror ‘The Birds’ again. The film
was based on the 1952 story by Daphne du Maurier, set in Bodega Bay,
California, where birds inexplicably attacked humans – initially seagulls are
responsible for the attacks, but other birds, such as sparrows and eventually
crows, are also part of the frenzied assault on people in the town. No
explanation is ever provided.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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