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Cardiff pest controllers combat aerial attacks from city seagulls
21/04/2011
Pest controllers in Cardiff have taken to pilfering eggs from the nests of urban seagulls in a bid to limit soaring number of the birds in the city centres and curb the audacious and aggressive behaviour of those that remain.
Environmental officials have been implementing new tactics to combat the bird problems, following growing numbers of complaints from residents and visitors who have been subjected to sustained and terrifying aerial attacks from the birds as they scavenge for food.
A city council spokesman said that the birds were being attracted by unsecured food and food waste, and that the local authority was doing its best to address the matter.
"A number of commercial premises contract the council to remove gull eggs found in nests on the flat roofs of their buildings and replace them with plastic ones," the spokesman said. "This has the effect of making the adult birds less aggressive as they have no young to protect, as well as contributing to the overall control of the gull population."
Claire Swindell, from the Fairwater area of the city said she was desperately hoping to avoid problems like she had last year, when nesting gulls made their home on her roof.
"They would dive for you every time you walked past," she explained. "For a while we were practically housebound and we couldn’t go into the back garden."
