HOMEOWNERS are “terrified” to go outside as thousands of psycho seagulls fill the skies in scenes akin to Alfred Hitchcock horror movie The Birds.
Residents in Altham, Lancashire, say they are fed up of being splattered with animal bones and poo – and are scared to hang washing out.
Andy Kelvin / Kelvin MediaSeagulls are plaguing residents and businesses at the Whinney Hill Landfill site[/caption]
SuppliedAn 5,000 seagulls plagued the skies last summer[/caption]
Andy Kelvin / Kelvin MediaPeople are having to continuously wash their cars and fear going outside[/caption]
A local firm also claims it’s lost thousands of pounds after stock was ruined by the flying critters.
Gary Hough has launched campaign group Tipped Over The Edge, and estimates 5,000 gulls fly over the town during the summer.
The 62-year-old told the Daily Mail the problem is “becoming worse all the time”.
“I have lived here for nine years and it’s never been this bad,” he said.
“We can’t sit outside, our cars and outdoor furniture are constantly covered in gull waste and I’ve found lamb and chicken bones have landed on my car and in my garden.”
He said: “We are having this continuous problem every minute of each day.”
Gary added that he and his neighbours can no longer sit in their gardens or hang washing out, and said they have to “constantly” clean their cars and homes.
COUNCIL WASTE CONTRACT
The problem has arisen since Lancashire County Council signed a contract with SUEZ Recycling and Recovery, which disposes of residual waste on behalf of 12 districts at a site in Whitney Hill.
As things stand, each borough has a waste transfer station before the rubbish is ferried to the site.
Gary’s group is not calling for a cull of the gulls but for a suspension of waste dumping before it can be transferred.
Fellow resident Julie Birtwell, 63, said her Cocker Spaniel fell ill after likely eating something a gull dropped in her garden.
She said more and more lorries are coming to the tip making the matter worse.
Greengate Builders Merchants manager Rob Ross, 40, said the seagull waste had damaged his stock, adding that the amount of waste is “a health risk and very unhygienic for staff”.
In July, SUEZ landfills operations manager Richard Phillips told the Lancashire Telegraph the company was “deploying every measure… to mitigate the number of seagulls in the area”.
He apologised for the inconvenience and added that the increase of gulls following the migration of birds inland following the Covid pandemic.
The Environment Agency said that it recognised “the distress and odour and gulls are causing members of the community”.
The 1963 film The Birds focuses on a series of sudden and unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California.
The Sun has contacted Lancashire County Council for comment.
Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock horror movie The Birds (1963)Rex
Andy Kelvin / Kelvin MediaThe gulls are attracted to the waste at the site[/caption]
Andy Kelvin / Kelvin MediaFacebook group Tipped Over the Edge is calling for waste disposal changes[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
