Seagulls: Has anything ever been done?

JustAThought

And utter
intolerance and ignorance.

Imagine - living by the sea and in a small town/‘city’by yhe sea with marinas and fishing fleets and not wanting any seagulls around. Jesus wept. Maybe we can take the grassplains out of Africa and just keep a few elephants - in cages.

zell12

Do they serve gull burger/steaks?

derekshelvin

JustAThought wrote: »

And utter
intolerance and ignorance.

Imagine - living by the sea and in a small town/‘city’by yhe sea with marinas and fishing fleets and not wanting any seagulls around. Jesus wept. Maybe we can take the grassplains out of Africa and just keep a few elephants - in cages.

I know we will always have seagulls and rats in Galway. I'm intolerant of a growing pest(s) problem and the possibility of my children getting a disease from them. I'm proposing some suggestions on how we try to curtail it. It's what humans do, we curtail things to make our lives safer. What is your suggestion? I hope I do not sound rude :-)

John_Rambo

"Won't someone think of the children and the diseases they'll get from seagulls?"

Said no-one. Ever.

Siunn.c

wrong thread

Paddico

Anyone know why the hoors are protected.
Its not like they are going extinct

Storm 10

Paddico wrote: »

Anyone know why the hoors are protected.
Its not like they are going extinct

That is the problem they are declining big time due to over fishing so no food they die except for the townie birds, years ago Mutton Island would have large colonies of Gulls when times were good sure even the Spratt and Mackerel are disappearing

derekshelvin

There needs to be more/bigger bins around the city. This was Eyre Square this evening and it won't be cleaned up until the council go around in the morning after 5am. All I am suggesting is that some local measures be implemented, this is accelerating the issue.
I hope one of these links works:

https://imgur.com/a/NvjtftI

John_Rambo

derekshelvin wrote: »

There needs to be more/bigger bins around the city. This was Eyre Square this evening and it won't be cleaned up until the council go around in the morning after 5am. All I am suggesting is that some local measures be implemented, this is accelerating the issue.
I hope one of these links works:

https://imgur.com/a/NvjtftI

If the council put skips with lids on them they'd be overflowing. The onus is on humans to bring their rubbish home with them in bags and put them in their paid for rubbish disposal. It's simple civic responsibility and Covid restrictions points to locals. Can't blame tourism on this one folks.

Paddico

derekshelvin wrote: »

There needs to be more/bigger bins around the city. This was Eyre Square this evening and it won't be cleaned up until the council go around in the morning after 5am. All I am suggesting is that some local measures be implemented, this is accelerating the issue.
I hope one of these links works:

https://imgur.com/a/NvjtftI

Thats right beside the stone bench where a girl was giving oral sex to some guy for over 4 minutes in full view of everyone in broad daylight

whisky_galore

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I've gone off seagulls massively since I saw one attack a small bird and eat it in the road on my estate. Someone tried to scare it away with a stick but it wasn't budging.
They've definitely got braver and scarier. I really wouldn't them around my house now at all.
There must be some less cruel method than spikes to deter them though.

Normal prey, the gull has to eat just like you or me.
Get over it.

John_Rambo

John_Rambo wrote: »

If the council put skips with lids on them they'd be overflowing. The onus is on humans to bring their rubbish home with them in bags and put them in their paid for rubbish disposal. It's simple civic responsibility and Covid restrictions points to locals. Can't blame tourism on this one folks.

We are paying for bins in public also so we should have a service to match. I am of course not saying anyone should throw rubbish on the ground and should bring it home if necessary but it should not be necessary there should be ample bins provided and emptied regularly. It’s a mad and impractical suggestion to expect people to be bringing their rubbish home all the time.

derekshelvin

https://imgur.com/a/0M7wkhE

Town today. The people doing this are causing the problem at a local level. While most of us will find a bin or take it home, the minority of idiots will not and this is what you get. Disposing of your rubbish properly is as second nature to most of us as putting on a seat belt, while others would just eat their food and leave it like this. All I can think of now is more and bigger bins that are emptied more often and signs informing people about the implications of feeding seagulls and rats. Some pictures on the signs too in case these people cannot read (seriously).

GrumpyMe

No pics but I was up at The Square over the weekend and there were gulls and fast food remains all over the place.

Veronica Qk

My daughter and her friend were attacked by about 20 seagulls earlier on today. They had just started eating their fish and chips on the bench. They are 8. All of us are really shaken by what happened. It was like a scene from the birds. I am amazed they came out without a scratch.

fergiesfolly

Sorry to hear that Veronica. Hope your daughter is ok.
I have noticed that the gulls are becoming a lot more brazen in recent times. The flocks seem to be getting bigger too.

Una1981

Veronica Qk wrote: »

My daughter and her friend were attacked by about 20 seagulls earlier on today. They had just started eating their fish and chips on the bench. They are 8. All of us are really shaken by what happened. It was like a scene from the birds. I am amazed they came out without a scratch.

That sounds awful, I've noticed them become much more aggressive over the last year. Have you reported this to City Council? Some of the ideas mentioned in this thread might come into effect if enough awareness is raised

JCX BXC

Lots of rats around the city, more than I've ever noticed before.

Storm 10

Una1981 wrote: »

That sounds awful, I've noticed them become much more aggressive over the last year. Have you reported this to City Council? Some of the ideas mentioned in this thread might come into effect if enough awareness is raised

Will not make any difference the are a protected bird as I said before we are the ones to blame for this by wiping out their food source in the sea by over fishing. Its a problem all over Europe not just here.

Doctors room ghost

JCX BXC wrote: »

Lots of rats around the city, more than I've ever noticed before.

Might be the recent rain driving them out of drains etc.also a great year for breeding sow rats.weather suited them.
Brian plummer has great books on rats and catching them.he invented the plummer terrier.

derekshelvin

You can keep arguing that "we are to blame" for over fishing but at a local level, these pictures will give you an insight of what is not helping. I am not being rude but can you see that people feeding wildlife in a city and weak bin bags are not helping?

derekshelvin

Two other photos

Man Vs ManUre

One of these cheeky buggers swooped down and nabbed a few of my chips on Dun Laoighre strand. Now I bring a catapult and try to shoot down as many as I can before they can get anywhere near my chips or 99. Have managed to hit a few but unfortunately not yet the same guy who got my chips.

Storm 10

derekshelvin wrote: »

You can keep arguing that "we are to blame" for over fishing but at a local level, these pictures will give you an insight of what is not helping. I am not being rude but can you see that people feeding wildlife in a city and weak bin bags are not helping?

Those are pigeons Seagulls would not touch that but I agree about the feeding, there is a person going around areas of the City and leaving feed for them every day. Surprised the City Council would not talk to her about this.

buzz11

biko wrote: »

Drop the discussion about the bird lady please. She is a private individual.

Storm 10 wrote: »

Those are pigeons Seagulls would not touch that but I agree about the feeding, there is a person going around areas of the City and leaving feed for them every day. Surprised the City Council would not talk to her about this.

For some reason its been asked not to discuss the lady who spreads the oats and who's behavior causes a public nuisance, litter, vermin etc etc

derekshelvin

buzz11 wrote: »

For some reason its been asked not to discuss the lady who spreads the oats and who's behavior causes a public nuisance, litter, vermin etc etc

https://extra.ie/2019/11/19/news/irish-news/a-pensioner-prosecuted-feeding-pigeons

Nobody should be above the law. We are all paying council tax like clowns to keep the city clean while this goes on. The streets are destroyed with marks from oats, not to mention all the bird droppings around it.

The gentleman in the article above was just feeding pigeons outside his home. The pigeons in Galway are being routinely fed with oats all over the city every day. Imagine what that is attracting each day and night. And we wonder why Galway has so many rats.

The laws around protecting birds are strict, and they should be strict for this behaviour too.

dePeatrick

I see people feeding pigeons and then the gulls come in...feeding birds in public parks should be banned.

Not Galway related, but I was in Howth this morning at 6am. The noise, and I mean non-stop, overly loud, screeching noise from the Seagulls was fcuking ridiculous. Completely changed my view of the area. Dunno how anyone gets a decent sleep there at all. Even if you slap some good windows in, they're walking all over the roofs of the houses.

The Drogheda Retail Park have loudspeakers on the roofs of shops (most notably Harvey Norman) playing the noise of predator birds (just sounds like a load of random squawking to me) and it's supposed to deter the seagulls (even though it just sounds like more seagulls). I do think it seems to be of some use, though, as there doesn't seem to be a massive seagull issue there, though I do believe they are smart enough to eventually cop on it's just a speaker.

dePeatrick

dePeatrick wrote: »

I see people feeding pigeons and then the gulls come in...feeding birds in public parks should be banned.

Just to add, I came back to my car this evening and it was covered in pigeon and gull ****, was just after washing it. Saw someone in park feeding the birds, seems it is a daily occurrence.

dePeatrick

monty_python wrote: »

Dude, it's a seagull. Relax your cax

Where do you think bird flu came from? That's just one of the many diseases particularly pigeons pass on in their droppings.