Pacific Grove looking to use drones to deal with seagulls

The city of Pacific Grove is going high tech to keep seagulls and their mess away from downtown businesses.

Business property owners in Pacific Grove have been told that they have until Feb. 20 to get seagulls’ nests and the potential health hazards that they create off their buildings. Now the city is turning to drones to remove those nests.

John Ivey of Monterey Drone, working under contract with the city to assess the seagull problem, came out to film rooftops of downtown businesses.

“They asked us to come out and shoot this and we’re doing that today.” Ivey said. “We may do some tomorrow. We’ll supply the city with video and then they’ll let us know what images to extract.”

Ivey said that if the drone locates a seagull’s nest on a business’s rooftop, the property owner will get a copy of the images and will have to remove the nest.

But there’s not much time. Seagulls are federally protected birds and can’t be disturbed once their eggs are laid.

The drones will be operating under a Federal Aviation Administration permit, and they should be finished within four hours.

Residents and business owners said the seagulls and their mess have been a problem for some time. Seventeenth Street Grille owner Martha Espinosa said she had no idea that city was taking such steps, but she’s glad.

“It is a nuisance because, you know, they actually drop their droppings on our customers, and it’s an eating area,”Espinosa said.

Espinosa said she and other business owners have done what they can to keep the seagulls off rooftops, installing spikes and even nets.

“There’s always one that is very persistent and knows when people are out.” she said. “They are very smart birds.”

But with a little help from technology, she hopes that she and other business owners can outsmart them.