Culling of urban seagulls should be examined, councillor says

An increase in the number of seagulls in urban areas in Dublin has led to a local councillor request that Dublin City Council examine the possibility of carrying out a culling of the birds.

Fianna Fail councillor for Finglas-Ballymun, Keith Connolly said that the increasing presence of seagulls and herring gulls in the city has led to several problems such as noise pollution, droppings, and nesting in inappropriate areas.

Gulls are a protected species through the EU’s bird directive, but a derogation can be issued in certain circumstances by the Department of Heritage, Connolly says.

In May 2017, such a derogation was granted to areas in Balbriggan allowing for the removal of eggs and nests to control the population.

“There is a serious issue with seagulls in the city, there has been a steady increase in the population and the noise pollution alone warrants a cull,” he says.

“I have dealt with situations where nesting has forced people to temporarily move out of their homes.

“The bacteria from their faeces are a lot more dangerous than dog excrement and we have also had situations where sea and herring gulls are robbing food directly from people’s hands.

“I have written to the CEO of Dublin City Council, Owen Keegan, to ask if the possibility of a cull in some areas could be examined in conjunction with the Department of Heritage.

“I would also urge people not to feed seagulls as this escalates the problem,” he says.

Dr Stephen Newton, a senior seabird conservation officer with Birdwatch Ireland says that more gulls are being attracted to urban areas due to a lack of food along the coast.

“It’s literally because of a lack of food in their natural environments, possibly increased disturbance on the coast,” he says.

“You can go down towards any beach or coastline this week, and you’ll see the thousands and thousands of people that are there in the habitat that the gulls would normally live in.

“They come into the towns because we are so profligate with our waste and our litter, and that means food to a gull”.

However, Dr Newton says that it’s only the “minority” and “bolder” birds that steal people’s food.

“The reason they’re doing that is because people have been feeding them.

“The bolder one gets the idea that ‘Oh there’s a person with a sandwich, burger or a packet of chips, I’ll just help myself’,” he says.

“But it’s the minority of birds that do that, the bold ones.”

Dr Newton also says that a culling of the sea birds would be highly inappropriate.

“I think it would be logistically very, very difficult – and secondly, we have to remember these birds are protected by Irish law and European law.

“They are what we call Amber listed of conservation concern.

“Their population have declined dramatically in the last 20 or 30 years.

“We have to clean up our act, it’s not going to be a quick fix”.

In July, Sinn Fein TD for Fingal Louise O’Reilly said seagulls have become a public safety issue in Balbriggan.

She says that she has been inundated with calls from people complaining about attacks on children, damage to property, water pollution and early morning noise from seagull chicks.

Deputy O’Reilly says although she would not support a cull of the bird species, she believes measures to control breeding and encourage birds to live on islands should be considered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

“My first call would be for the Minister to invest in cleaning up the islands off north county Dublin and make them more habitable by putting bird boxes up,” she said.

“We need to encourage urban gulls back out to sea by giving them somewhere to breed and live.”