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Biscuits sacrificed to reduce seagull population

Biscuits sacrificed to reduce seagull population


 
  
1    Bristol City Council has    told that shooting the birds was
 become so fed up with the growing considered too dangerous. The
 seagull population in their city, that only long-term solution to the
 they are spending £25,000 on problem was dipping the eggs in a
 tackling the problem. More than mineral oil to make them sterile.
 2,000 pairs of the birds are3    Faced with a £30,000 bill to
 believed to be living in the city carry out the oil-dipping
 centre and the population is rising programme across the city,
 by an estimated 17 per cent a Mr Cromer found a way of saving
 year. The population explosion, money from an unlikely source.
 which has been blamed on fast “I was looking into catering costs
 food litter left by people, has led to and one of the things that came up
 a flood of complaints from was the money we spent on
 residents. The gulls are notoriously biscuits at meetings, which was
 noisy - particularly during the quite a considerable amount.
 mating season - and produce large At the same time a colleague was
 quantities of droppings. There looking into a trial involving dipping
 have also been some reports of seagull eggs in oil. The cost of the
 seagulls dive-bombing people to dipping scheme was around
 protect their territory. £30,000 and I said ‘I think I’ve
2    Steve Cromer, deputy council found £25,000’- by axing the
 leader, looked into the problem biscuits. Biscuits just seemed a
 and found the authority’s options luxury we could easily do without!”
 were extremely limited. He was