Kill the seagulls: former Mayor of Worcester calls for shock cull

Councillor Alan Amos has called for a frank debate over culling Worcester's gull population, saying city leaders are ignoring a solution to "kill the bloody things".

He has also scoffed at official figures suggesting their numbers have dropped in recent years, saying he "must be living in a parallel universe" to the experts.

But his remarks have been criticised by other councillors and rejected by a top official, who says Worcestershire Regulatory Services would not endorse "the slaughter of birds".

Over the last year Worcester's seagull blight has led to one woman being bit, people living in parts of the city refusing to put their washing out and reports of them 'dive bombing' children in St John's.

At the last count there were 181 nesting pairs in the city centre, the lowest this decade, although critics suggest efforts to push them out has led to an increase in residential areas.

Worcester City Council held a special seagulls debate in a scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday night, where the issue of a cull was raised.

Cllr Amos said "I must be living in a parallel universe - if the numbers are going down, can someone tell me why this problem is getting worse?

"It does seem, in all honesty that unless we do a cull the situation will get worse and worse and it will go on, and on.

"If the only solution left is to kill the bloody things, and we're not going to do it, then what is the point of discussing this matter over and over again?

"We've got to press this issue of a cull, because I don't believe these numbers for a minute."

He told the committee his understanding was that a cull licence can be obtained in certain circumstances.

Any Government licence could only be obtained if the seagulls pose a significant risk to public health or property.

Mark Cox, from Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said: "I would suggest we don't have a significant public health problem to be able to slaughter birds in this city - and there's also the matter of the public message it would send out."

He said any cull would only result in other gulls coming to Worcester the year after, before Cllr Amos said: "Not the dead ones."

Other councillors trounced the suggestion, saying they would resist any attempt to take it further after David Sutton, the director responsible for the environment, suggested they could write to the Government over the current law.

Labour Councillor Jo Hodges said: "It's certainly not the 'will' of this councillor to write to the Secretary of State, and I think I speak for a lot of others too.

"I'm not of the thought that, if something annoys me, I'll get out and shoot it.

"And if we did actually shoot every bird, they would just be replaced by another flock, it will never go away, just like the damn pigeons at the bottom of my garden.

"We will never get them away completely, we have to accept it's there - but we do seem to be going down the right route in stopping their numbers increasing, and even getting them down to a lower number."

Fellow Councillor Elaine Williams said: "I'm totally against lobbying for a cull."

Last month we reported how Councillor Chris Mitchell, a former city council deputy leader, first suggested a cull be explored, with Cllr Alan Amos, pictured below, the first to firmly back it.

The idea has come under fire from the RSPB and the RSPCA, which says too many local authorities are calling for lethal methods of reducing their gull populations.

In Worcester the city council only spends £5,500 a year on the issue, but a range of methods have been used with some success including oiling eggs, painting rooftops red and the current, favoured tactic of leaving fake eggs on roofs.

That tactic fools the birds into thinking any real eggs they leave out will not hatch - making it the most successful and humane.

More on this story will follow in the coming days.