Public responds to potential gull population rise: ‘Great!! Even more ‘rats with wings’ mugging anyone with a sausage roll’
“Great!! Even more ‘rats with wings’ mugging anyone with a sausage roll in their hand” – frustrated locals have been responding to The Inverness Courier’s story about how the gull population in the city is likely to explode.
On Monday, we reported on how Inverness city centre is likely to see a spike in its gull population this year because new NatureScot guidance led to just 175 eggs being removed compared to 1950 last year.
Inverness BID explained that it ultimately got a licence to remove 1000 eggs from NatureScot – that was already 49 per cent less than last year – but by the time that greenlight arrived many of the eggs had hatched.
A recurring fear among locals is not just the sudden loss of takeout food but the actual physical threat posed by the birds which can be temperamental.
That led Councillor Isabelle Mackenzie saying that 10 years of work to control the population of gulls in Inverness and the money spent on it has “been poured down the drain”.
Cllr MacKenzie said: “This gull problem has come about from the Landfill site – when it was closed, their source of human waste disappeared. Gulls went further inland as they were addicted to human food.
“The amazing gull control measures have worked over the last 10 years in the city centre – now all that effort and public funds has been poured down the drain.
“I've heard of tour groups being bombarded. A resident has been taken to A&E after a gull attacked them. People are being affected. A child had their food snatched while in a pushchair along Riverside.
She added: “These urban gulls are a menace.”
Bill Macdonald recognised the same problem, saying: Great! Even more ‘rats with wings’ mugging anyone with a sausage roll in their hand and crapping on everything and everybody from height.
“Why on earth are these pests classed as a protected species!? Bring back the Longman dump which provided a veritable banquet for them and played its part in keeping these filthy thieving creatures away from the town centre.”
There were plenty of others who felt just as strongly like Karen Shane, she said: “It’s dangerous on my street, they live in solar panels that Highland Council installed. Last year people could [not] walk up a path without being attacked and drawing blood. All the council had to do was put netting to stop nesting”.
Nairn Connects also used to deal with gulls like Inverness but they did not get licences in time this year either. Juliet Johnston said: “Same in Nairn, BID explained that they took so long to grant licenses the eggs were hatched. Not cute!
“The mess of bird poo all over is disgusting and so unnecessary, such a good impression we make to all our summer visitors, not good for the Highland economy – who was dragging their feet and not doing their job properly?”
Evelyn Grant pointed out that there is “no such thing as seagulls - there are various types of gull. Conflict with gulls is because of our behaviour and our invasion of their habitat.”
