“Bay Area sea gull population explodes, bringing flocks of problems”

Fifty-three thousand sea gulls live on a small island in San Francisco Bay. With a 41% increase in population from the past year, this small island has the second largest population in the world, with Utah’s Great Salt Lake being on top. The sea gulls try to eat a small bird called least terns. This endangered species of bird is protected by volunteers and park workers. They whistle, clap hands, blow horns, and call out sharpshooters in an attempt to make the birds fly away. The sea gulls are getting out of hand. The gulls are increasingly colliding with airplanes, even causing aborted takeoffs and some landings at Bay area airports. They're swarming landfills, dive-bombing schools, neighborhoods, and gobbling up shorebirds that public agencies have spent over 300 million dollars to protect from extinction. With no plan to stop the growth of the population the sea gulls are becoming a huge problem. Landfills and garbage cans around the Bay are an endless food supply and help the population thrive even more. Ten colonies around the San Francisco Bay have been set up by the sea gulls. Possible solutions to the population increase of sea gulls are to destroy all the nests and eggs of the sea gulls, or have a mass killing. Barriers to these solutions are if we were to destroy the nest and eggs there would not be results for the next twenty years and the project would be rather costly. If a mass killing occurred many people would be outraged and the project leader would need a proper license to do so. I believe that if these animals are doing this much harm to the environment the nest and eggs should be destroyed or a different solution should be made. Many species of birds are being endangered and even extinct, and if it was up to me I would do everything to stop these sea gulls.

http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_23680401/bay-area-sea-gull-population-explodes-bringing-flocks