Smelly bird poop ticks off tourists

A Swedish pensioner is going to war with a colony of cormorants she blames for damaging the environment and leaving visitors holding their noses over the stench of their droppings. The woman, who lives in the coastal town of Trosa, says the smell wafting over from a nearby island is affecting local tourism. “When there is a wind from the south or southwest you get the smell blown in over the whole neighbourhood,” said Barbro Westerberg. “There are many restaurants here that are only open in the summer, and they’re losing out. People can’t sit outside and eat.” She wants local councillors to approve culling the birds, saying there are 300 nests with four to six cormorant eggs each on the island of Snöholmen. Other Trosa residents have joined a Facebook protest urging an end to the pungent plague. “I took the boat out today and photographed Snöholmen,” wrote Calle Bodin. “It reminded me of the Hitchcock film The Birds but with a smell. Ugh, how terrible.”