Re: Horrified: Proposed Cull of Seagulls in Lowestoft

I Love Seagulls

I just feel infuriated with people who have no interest or appreciation in the environment around them, be it birds, animals, insects or countryside

I love seagulls,if this is your point you are aiming your remarks at the wrong people,we are all on here because we love and appreciate wildlife.

Any cull will probably entail the destruction of eggs not a load of cowboys waving shotguns.If there is a health hazard with the gulls no doubt the council will keep pushing for a cull at a later date even if they fail now.

I Love Seagulls, I must respond to this post.

Firstly I will start by saying I am a massive fan of gulls and all seabirds in general. I grew up on the coast of South Devon, perhaps the worst place in the entire country for pest gulls. I studied Animal Management in college and was shocked at the amount of people in my class that wanted gulls to die. I used to spend hours drawing them and watching them.. I was fascinated with them because they were so easy to study.

I absolutely DO NOT back the cull anywhere and I think that with time and effort, other solutions could help.

However... your post about feeding them and aggression only in the breeding season made me raise an eyebrow. I have seen first hand what these birds are capable of and yes they do attack people (perhaps not where you live but certainly in South Devon and Cornwall). They do this to make people drop their food or turn their heads so they can steal it, the entire reason for this is because they are hand fed. If people didn't hand feed them, sure they'd still be around and still as numerous! But they wouldn't be so brave either and I think that is the main problem people have.

Not only is feeding them inconsiderate towards majority of those who live at the coast, but it also encourages aggression. I don't think it's right to force everyone around you to tolerate gulls in their presense if they do not like them.

Now the fact is.. if there wasn't so much bloody litter around, the gulls probably wouldn't hang around to begin with.

To SarahWest, I don't think the population of gulls is un-naturally high, rather all the gulls are concentrated into small areas where we can see them. Infact I'm pretty sure their numbers have declined over the years.

Anyway getting to the main point, urge your local MP to tackle littering instead of killing and do your part as well, don't irritate the public into backing a cull! Let gulls feed themselves.