Here come the gulls!
BOV VER BIRDS IN MASS ATTACKS
BRITAIN faces mass seagull attacks after a crackdown on culling the feathered fiends.
PSYCHO seagulls could wreck our seaside breaks after tough new limits were placed on “culling” them.
Government advisers Natural England have ordered strict curbs on the number of eggs that can be destroyed.
Boss Marian Spain said they were needed to secure the “long-term future of these important species”.
But it has sparked fears of a spate of attacks from marauding gulls during the May to June breeding season and into the late summer.
Natural England has been slated after it ignored calls for the mass removal of nests in areas blighted by rogue birds.
The group will only license destroying or moving eggs if “special approval” is given to councils.
And a new upper limit has been set on the number of dangerous divebombers that can be culled or moved in rural areas, leaving town hall chiefs almost powerless to prevent future incidents.
It could mean misery in seaside resorts.
Last summer there were reports of gulls attacking people, grabbing holidaymakers’ fish and chips, and even targeting pet dogs and babies.
Councils up and down the country have tried nonlethal methods to control them including gull-proof bins, decoy eggs and using drones, but nothing seems to have worked. Councillor Alex King in Arbroath, Angus, warned: “If we can’t control the number of gulls nesting and raising their young, you’re not going to get rid of the problem of aggressive parents defending their chicks. “There have been many incidents of people being attacked by gulls – this is a backward step.” Breeding populations of herring gull have fallen by 60% in recent decades, with lesser black-backed gulls down 48%, say Natural England. In rural areas they have set an upper “safe” number of birds that can be killed at just 5% of the number that will die naturally.
SEAGULLS have become the scourge of Britain.
Attacks went through the roof last year with more people than ever left nursing nasty injuries.
Everywhere you looked, dive-bombing pests were causing chaos.
The last thing we need is even more of the blighters plaguing us this year. So what is Natural England thinking? These birdbrains have changed the licensing laws to limit the culling of these birds.
Nests will now only be removed under special circumstances.
As a result, there will be more nests and more aggressive gulls protecting their young this summer.
And that means only one thing – even more attacks on the public.
No-one will be safe, with young and old, and even pets, all targets. Thanks a bunch.
That’s just what we want to hear. Natural England bosses need to think again.
If we don’t control seagull numbers, then the traditional seaside holiday could turn into a very painful one.