Wheelchair users scared to sit outside as greedy seagulls swoop on their food
GREEDY gulls are swooping on wheelchair users’ food, leaving them scared to sit outside, officials fear.
The pests are also menacing rising numbers of children, they suspect.
The situation is so bad that the council in the Wiltshire town of Devizes wants to take eggs from gulls’ nests.
To get a licence to do so, they need evidence they have become a threat to health.
The council says: “A case study is needed such as disabled people who cannot sit out due to dive bombing by gulls or school children being frightened to walk to school as gulls fly down and pester them.”
The market town, which is more than 40 miles from the sea, has been plagued by the birds for years.
It has previously taken eggs to control them but licence rules have been tightened.
It is no longer enough to show that the birds are a nuisance with their squawking and fouling.
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The council also wants to find nurses who lose so much sleep they cannot do their jobs.
It will also have to prove that using hawks to scare off the birds has not worked.