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Press Releases
August
15, 2005
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Michelle Pintar
Phone: (414) 431-6104
E-mail: mpintar@wihumane.org
Getting
Down to Business with Gulls
MILWAUKEE
– You drive into the parking lot only to find more
than 200 gulls taking the parking spaces. Out of
nowhere, a ring-billed gull swoops over your car
in an effort to protect her nest. To top things
off, you hear a big SPLAT on your rooftop and you're
certain you received a present of gull droppings.
Hundreds of gulls hang out in empty parking lots
or open fields in the downtown area. The Wisconsin
Humane Society suggests these gull-related tips:
· Now
is the time to start thinking about humanely managing
gull colonies that might appear next spring, especially
people who had problems earlier this year with nesting
gulls.
· Next
March and April, if you discover gulls on your businesses'
rooftop or other property, you can haze the birds
(chasing them away or making noise to frighten them
away) to get them to give up on “their” site before
they start nesting. This can legally and humanely
be done before the birds begin
nesting. However, do not strike the birds with anything
and don't physically harm them in any way. It is
not legal or humane to harass the birds after they
have started nesting.
· Depending
on where a past gull colony was located, you may
be able to install a preventative “gull-grid” –
a network of fishing line or wire installed over
a rooftop or a field to prevent gulls from nesting
there again. These grids must be erected before
the start of the gull nesting season.
· One
reason why gull populations are growing is due to
the garbage and food scraps they find scavenging
at dumps, landfills and on city streets and parking
lots. Please dispose food waste in covered cans
or dumpsters.
# # #
Note: Scott
Diehl, Wildlife Manager for the Wisconsin Humane
Society, can be available for an interview at 6
th and Canal St. in Milwaukee , the site of a large
gull nesting colony. To arrange an interview, please
contact Michelle Pintar at (414) 431-6104.
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