Hi all -
At the landfill in Victoria, the regional district installed a network
of overhead wiring (steel cables crossed by monofilament lines) to
deter gulls from landing on the face of the landfill. I was hired to
monitor gull numbers, and after a little fine tuning (they had to
shorten up wire spacing as gulls learned to manoeuvre through it), they
had winter gull numbers down from 5000 - 7000 at any one time, to about
300. Other landfills have done it too, but the point is it is
effective, if expensive.

The original problem was gulls carrying garbage to private docks on
nearby lakes, and pooping there as well. Gull numbers have been
artificially high because of availability of garbage and fishing offal,
during the historically lean times of daytime high tides. The proof
here was gulls starting to nest away from overcrowded traditional
colonies, on building roofs, etc. I'm not sure whether the landfill
effort has resulted in any gull attrition, since the massive Vancouver
landfill at Burns Bog is still unprotected and that is a short 50 km or
so for gulls.

Incidentally, occasionally a gull would become tangled in the
monofilament, and landfill staff would first attempt to free it, using
equipment on site, and if that failed, dispatch it humanely. Even for
someone who loved to pick through thousands of gulls on a winter day,
it is a very well run system.

This might at least provide a viable alternative to suggest in your
dealings.

Bruce Whittington
Ladysmith, BC
mailto: fieldnat at pacificcoast.net