Seagulls are an on-going problem around Minden, and Council is trying to change that.
Last month, property owners on Mountain Lake presented evidence of a growing seagull problem that their lake has and council decided the best course of action was to review their options to reduce the number of seagulls. Ivan Ingram, the Environmental and Property Operations Manager, met with the council today to go over the options to deal with the high number of seagulls.
Ingram connected with two different businesses and asked how they would reduce the seagulls at the Scotch Line Landfill and the surrounding area. The first business is a company called Hawkeye, which suggested they would obtain a permit to remove the nests and eggs of the seagulls, as well as the use ‘scare’ pistols and the use of a trained falconer to kill the seagulls that remain. The cost of going with Hawkeye would be $35,143.00.
The other option presented was to go through the company Rentokil, which proposed that once the appropriate permits are collected, they will remove the nests, followed by scaring the birds away with ‘scare’ pistols and balloons. Rentokil would also use a predatory bird. According to Ingram, Rentokil has already found the nest on the landfill and will remove it once the permit comes in. the price tag associated with Rentokil is $31,200.00
It was pointed out by Rentokil that some actions can be taken before the permit is in hand, the scaring of the birds can be done once council gives the approval to go forward with a business.
Council gave pre-approval to go forward with Rentokil and address the issue again if the seagull problem continues.