Press Releases

August 15, 2005

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Michelle Pintar

Phone: (414) 431-6104

E-mail: mpintar@wihumane.org

Getting Down to Business with Gulls

GRAFTON, Wis. – You drive into the parking lot only to find more than 200 gulls taking the parking spaces. Out of nowhere, a ring-billed gull swoops over your car in an effort to protect her nest. To top things off, you hear a big SPLAT on your rooftop and you're certain you received a present of gull droppings. Hundreds of gulls hang out in empty parking lots or open fields. The Ozaukee Humane Society suggests these gull-related tips:

·   Now is the time to start thinking about humanely managing gull colonies that might appear next spring, especially people who had problems earlier this year with nesting gulls.

·   Next March and April, if you discover gulls on your businesses' rooftop or other property, you can haze the birds (chasing them away or making noise to frighten them away) to get them to give up on “their” site before they start nesting. This can legally and humanely be done before the birds begin nesting. However, do not strike the birds with anything and don't physically harm them in any way. It is not legal or humane to harass the birds after they have started nesting.

·   Depending on where a past gull colony was located, you may be able to install a preventative “gull-grid” – a network of fishing line or wire installed over a rooftop or a field to prevent gulls from nesting there again. These grids must be erected before the start of the gull nesting season.

·   One reason why gull populations are growing is due to the garbage and food scraps they find scavenging at dumps, landfills and on city streets and parking lots. Please dispose food waste in covered cans or dumpsters.

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