Raptors rid Pacific Grove of seagulls and their poop
Pacific Grove city leaders are taking the next step in getting rid of problem seagulls. They’ve hired a ‘master falconer’ to try to prevent the gulls from building nests.
“For most migratory birds, this is the nest building month when eggs go down,” Kate Marden said, master falconer with West Coast Falconry.
A sense of urgency to get seagulls to fly the coop. In recent years, they’ve become a nuisance and health hazard to the people who live, work and visit the area.
“The poop everywhere doesn’t make the town look very attractive to shoppers,” local business owner Janneke Rowland-Wolken said.
The city began the project several weeks ago. First identifying the areas where nests have been built. Then Pacific Grove mandated building owners get rid of the nests by February 20, before eggs are ever laid. Gulls are actually a protected species.
The hope is to get them to cliff-side habitats. However, master falconers said they’ve become spoiled by living in the Pacific Grove area.
“The gulls are very intelligent and very wily. This downtown area works well for them as a breeding ground because it’s protected from predators because of the presence of the humans. So they don’t have a lot of natural predators here in town,” master falconer Kate Mardin said.
Mardin and her flock will be in Pacific Grove for the next three weeks to patrol the area to force the birds to go somewhere else. Since Pacific Grove began this abatement program, local business owners think it’s been successful and applaud the effort.
“You don’t want to be nasty towards the seagulls, they are part of our small little town here. But you do want to treat the problem and I think it’s a nice and environmentally friendly way,” Rowland-Wolken said.
Monday was orientation day for the birds. Once they get comfortable with the environment, they’ll be out flying around Thursday or Friday of this week. But that’s not the end of Mardin’s work. She’ll probably be back this summer when tourism picks up and more people are dining outside when gulls are there for the free food.
