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| Wednesday, 01 April 2009 | |
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1 April 2009: A friend sent me this by email. If anyone knows where it came from, do post it in the comments! How do you solve a problem like seagulls?
As Easter approaches and the council braces itself for an increase in the number of complaints about gulls ripping open rubbish sacks and dive-bombing unsuspecting visitors to steal the snacks off their plates, the Council believes it may have cracked the problem. A low voltage electric cable will be strung between lamp-posts above the promenades in each of East Devon's seaside resorts. The cable, based on the electric fences used to control cattle and sheep, will give off a small shock when the gulls land on it. This will stun the birds for a short while and Council staff will be on hand with oversized butterfly nets to capture the birds while they lie unconscious on the footway. They will be gathered together in cages and humanely transported by a Beer trawler out to sea, where they will be released into their natural environment. Ground-breaking Commenting on the plan, the Chairman of EDDC's Wildlife Intervention Taskforce (WIT), said: “We believe this may be a ground-breaking way to solve the problem of seagulls bothering people in our seaside towns. It's the kind of blue-sky thinking we are trying to encourage through the taskforce”. And Councillor Miss April Japes went on: “The gulls will not suffer in any way. We will have teams of specially trained council staff out every day on duty to capture the birds. Once the gulls have been moved out in sufficient numbers, we will turn off the current. If the problem recurs, we can turn it back on. “This solution fits perfectly with the Council's overall recycling agenda. Some people want the birds culled, while others want them left alone. This is a sensible compromise, as we will in effect be recycling them. “The only slight concern we have is that members of the public might be surprised to find a stunned seagull dropping out of the sky near where they are sitting on the esplanade or beach. We will be putting up signs warning people to watch out for this and not to be concerned”. A demonstration of the new gull stunning technique can be seen at EDDC's headquarters in Sidmouth at 11.00 a.m. on Wednesday 1 April.
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