In defence of gull power

Sir, – Every year we hear calls for a cull on gulls and, in some towns and cities around Scotland, this happens.

In Dundee I believe there are early-morning gull shoots.

In Arbroath, the council used to employ someone to remove eggs from nests on high buildings.

Gulls are noisy and can

be a menace, but killing wildlife because they are an annoyance to humans cannot be the answer.

Gulls are smart creatures and will go to where there is a ready source of food.

If drinkers throw away half-eaten kebabs at 3am, they should not be surprised if a gull swoops on their sausage roll when they are wandering through the town at 3pm the next day.

I have witnessed children being terrorised by huge gulls but this is a consequence of careless behaviour by adults.

If we did not let street bins overflow and if we did not discard food, the gulls would go elsewhere.

No matter how annoying the gulls are, you have to admire their ingenuity.

I have watched them waiting in pairs at the back door of Overgate, Dundee, and swooping on some pour soul’s snack with astonishing stealth.

They are also fiercely protective of their nest and their young.

Humans can learn a lot from them. Robert Anderson. Kirkton, Arbroath.

Getty A baby seal released to the wild after rehabilitation at a centre for injured seals in the Primorye Territory village of Tavrichanka on Zheltukhina Island in Peter the Great Gulf, Russia.