Laser bid to end seagull menace

THE seagulls in Elgin are facing eviction from the city centre.

However, Embrace Elgin (Elgin Business Improvement District) has commissioned a humane removal of the ying pests.

The last few years have seen increasing numbers of seagulls move into towns and cities, Elgin is no exception.

The birds have become bolder, more territorial and steal food from unsuspecting visitors, they pull rubbish from bins, and damage buildings not to mention the mess they leave on pavements and windows.

Embrace Elgin (Elgin BID) have taken up the mantle on behalf of their business members and have brought in a specialist company to help “encourage” the gulls that city centre living is not for them.

SVC the company commissioned to do the work, are highly experienced and rather than taking the traditional approach they are using lasers to disrupt the birds during the nesting period. Te lasers are directed towards the colonies as the gulls settle and prepare to build nests, while they don’t harm the birds, they do cause disruption to the airspace around them.

Gill Neill, manager of Elgin BID said: “Listening to concerns raised by our business members we knew we had do something to address the problems caused by the gulls.

“You would be amazed the damage being done to historic buildings and the number of reports we receive about people having food stolen or being attacked by protective parent birds has steadily increased.

“We opted to take a more high-tech approach. It seemed fairer all round to try and minimise the number of gulls building nests, rather than letting them build and then removing the nests and eggs.”

Work began in April and initial results are positive, the SVC team are out in the middle of the night, so they are not causing disruption to the businesses, workers or visitors.

The numbers of gulls attempting to nest is dropping. Embrace Elgin has asked for the public’s help by not leaving food or rubbish lying about.