Bird of Prey Keeps the Gulls Away
A Harris hawk, bird of prey, is being used as a humane deterrent to the colony of hundreds of seagulls that have taken residence on the roof of the Scottish Water building, adjacent to the busy Prestwick airport.
The proximity of the gull colony to the airport runways has presented a severe hazard to aircraft and this new approach to dealing with the problem has been welcomed by airport bosses. Other deterrents, including netting and fake hawks, have already been tried but none have been very successful.
The live hawk, named Jasper, will routinely circle the buildings around the airport in order to scare the gulls away. The technique will be used during the nesting season in order to encourage the gulls to nest elsewhere. This method of dealing with the gull problem has been welcomed by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
If Jasper manages to successfully scare the gulls away flights to and from the airport will be much safer, and users of Prestwick airport parking facilities will have less bird droppings to clean from their windscreens.
Written by Hybrid on May 12th, 2008 with
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#1. May 17th, 2008, at 1:31 PM.
What a beautiful bird, the Harris Hawk. If this technique for dealing with the gull problem is a success it will clearly be preferable to poisoning.