Scourge of the skies: Seagulls attack for food and learned to target people in wheelchairs

By Ed Cullinane & Geoff Baker via SWNS

Divebombing seagulls have learned to target people in WHEELCHAIRS to steal food from, a council has warned.

Officials in Devizes in Wiltshire, England say people who use the mobility devices are increasingly unable to sit outside - for fear of being swooped on.

They say the birds are now a particular menace to wheel-chair users and ''frightened'' school children.

The town council is applying for a license from Natural England to allow eggs to be taken from nests to limit population growth of the gulls.

They say as part of the application process they need case studies to prove the menace the birds are creating.

The council says they are aware the birds have been attacking ''disabled people who cannot sit out due to dive-bombing by gulls''.

Gulls have also been attacking ''frightened school children''..

The council says that the gull plague has worsened in recent years and many residents are suffering from unprovoked attacks.

In a report to the Community and Civic Resources Committee, council officers state: “Devizes has seen a steady increase in urban gull numbers and this has had a resulting negative impact on residential areas.

“Until 2018 we were able to apply for permission to manage gull numbers under a general license.

"Once we demonstrated we met the qualifying criteria, a qualified contractor would then undertake an egg replacement program to manage the growth in population.

“In early 2019, Wild Justice successfully threatened a legal challenge against Natural England and DEFRA, making them review the way they interpret legislation and this resulted in an amendment in the qualifying criteria for general licenses.

"Since then, here in Devizes, we have been seeing a steady increase in urban gulls and the resulting negative impact on residential areas.”

Now the authority wants to apply for an “organization license” that would allow it to take up to 30 eggs from each area on the town in which there is a gull problem.

And for that, it needs the help of harassed locals.

The council explained: “In previous applications, we have sent off pages of emails showing the number of people affected, however many of these were concerning nuisances such as bird fouling or general noise.

"Whilst there may be risk-based concerns within applications, they are lost in the number of comments and the perception by Natural England will be that the nuisance is the overriding issue and therefore an application will fail.

“In making the application it is better to include a couple of good case studies such as nurses who work nights not being able to sleep during the day as a result of gull noise and this impacting on their ability to effectively carry out their duties.

“The other criteria is the risk to health, and a case study is needed such as disabled people who cannot sit out due to dive-bombing by gulls or schoolchildren being frightened to walk to school as gulls fly down and pester them.

“Within the application, there has to be mention of a non-lethal strategy such as hawk flying to manage the problem and why that is either not possible or why it has not worked.

“Whilst NE are not looking for proof like doctors’ notes to demonstrate the risk to health that Gulls may be causing, it could be a supporting statement from a public health officer at Wiltshire Council.”