urbanglasgow.co.uk

james73 · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:36 pm Post subject: Feathered fiends

THEY raise the hackles of urban and seaside dwellers like no other members
of the animal kingdom. Seagulls snatch take-away food, keep people awake
at night with their squawking and litter the streets with their droppings.

In Glasgow, gull numbers have boomed in the past 25 years thanks mainly
to the explosion in fast-food outlets and the city council say the number of
complaints about the menace birds are rising.

In some cities they have become such a pest house prices have fallen
where they congregate and residents have shot them to keep numbers
down.

Attacks on humans have taken place in scenes reminiscent of Alfred
Hitchcock's The Birds.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman admitted today: "Our public health
unit has seen a rise in complaints about the behaviour of seagulls and
some of the problems that they can cause over recent years, mainly
noise, aggression, faeces and also birds disturbing refuse."

Recent incidents have shown that nothing is safe from the marauders of
the sky.

At last weekend's Glasgow Show a bird of prey was chased by what
onlookers described as a "gang" of up to 50 angry gulls.

The gyr falcon failed to return to its handler after it had been "dive-
bombed". But it was found safely two days later on a roof at the city's
Victoria Infirmary and returned to handler Gary Swainson.

At the Faslane naval base, sailors watched in astonishment as Blackie the
kitten was snatched from its mother and then dropped onto a barbed wire
fence by a menacing gull. The five-week-old feline required stitches to its
paw.

And, in Dumfries, a couple told of how they're prisoners in their own
home due to a gull nesting in their roof.

The crazed two-winged assassin swoops and excrements on Anthony and
Margaret Culshaw continuously - and it's even ambushed their car. The
kitten's attacker, a black-backed gull, is one of two large gull species to
have moved from their traditional coastal feeding grounds to city centres.

The other - the herring gull - can grow to 27 inches long and has a
maximum wing span of 63 inches, making it a fearsome predator.

James H
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Hugo Drax · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject:

Once you start on the gulls who/what will be next?
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james73 · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:08 pm Post subject:

Neds?

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...

Hugo Drax · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:26 pm Post subject:

That was exactly the answer I was hoping for

Perhaps we could ship off all the neds and seagulls somewhere and let them deal with each other.
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Smartalex · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject:

Stick bits of sandwiches to neds and tie them to poles for the birds.

Voila spectator sport.

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scallopboy · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject:

If it wasn't for the amount of food litter about the streets of most cities, there wouldn't be a problem with gulls. Go on cooncil, 2 pronged approach, cut down on the food litter, including shops leaving bags of rotting food in plastic bags, and shoot them.
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Fjord · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject:

Seagulls are a pain in the ass but rather than shoot them why not deep fry them in a special recipe batter and set up a franchise. But this time with an old guy with a white Mohican as opposed to a beard?

Lets face it there's bugger all in the sea for them to eat so they've moved on to discarded burgers/Kebabs & fish suppers laced with fresh vomit as part of their diet.
I blame it on our entry to the Common Market and City Bakeries

falseface · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject:

can you not eat them?
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Fjord · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject:

wee minx · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:23 pm Post subject:

A fricoosay of seagull a la frying pan..with a hint of fishy smell wrapped in seaweed....topped with a worm and crab sauce and the odd feather.

tasty
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