Ten-year bird bans for Gull Rescue pair (From The Argus)

Another case of animal cruelty fuelled by ignorance.

These kind of people will never admit they have don anything wrong. They should have been banned from keeping any kind of animals for life.

Just because an animal is kept Alive, does not mean that you are being 'kind' if the animal is suffering and in pain. You are actually being cruel by keeing it alive.

These birds could not speak up for themselves, thank goodness members of the public raised the alarm, or I'm sure this couple would still be doing their good work now!

The biggest crime here is that they simply took on too many gulls.

Recently i found an injured adult Gull in the street a couple of months ago. I phoned everyone that I could and NO ONE was interested in helping. I had to go from my home in saltdean to Coastway in Kemptown where they didnt even treat the gull. They just put him to sleep. :-(

Its VITAL to know that animal organisations are stretched beyond belief. I have a strong attachment to gulls and the adult ones who visit me give me such a source of entertainment. They are great characters...

Ultimately if you are going to take on lots of Gulls you need to look after them better. Its quite clear that Tim McKenzie and Jean Tyler just had too many to deal with and maybe a concerned neighbour raised the alarm. Sadly gulls are on their own and are placed way down the list.. :-(

Here are my two. You may have to copy and paste the link into a seperate browser.

Mr Seagull and friend waiting for their dinner - at MY house...
http://youtu.be/Pwjl
zEk7Bl8

Mr Seagull helping himself at home...
http://youtu.be/Za--
Mox-pK4

I love my Gulls, but animal charities don't quite so much. Its a sad fact !

Roger and Fleur Musselle take in poorly gulls at Roger's Wildlife Rescue on the corner of Chalkland Rise and summit t'other road in Woodingdean.

Every year dozens and dozens of baby gulls fall or get blown off rooftops and taken to Roger and Fleur. They should be made Sir Roger and Dame Fleur Musselle for their immense contribution to wildlife rescue and rehab.

Valerie Paynter wrote:
Roger and Fleur Musselle take in poorly gulls at Roger's Wildlife Rescue on the corner of Chalkland Rise and summit t'other road in Woodingdean.

Every year dozens and dozens of baby gulls fall or get blown off rooftops and taken to Roger and Fleur. They should be made Sir Roger and Dame Fleur Musselle for their immense contribution to wildlife rescue and rehab.

i agree. They just let things get on top of them. Now where do we take the sick gulls? :-(

Valerie Paynter wrote:
Roger and Fleur Musselle take in poorly gulls at Roger's Wildlife Rescue on the corner of Chalkland Rise and summit t'other road in Woodingdean.

Every year dozens and dozens of baby gulls fall or get blown off rooftops and taken to Roger and Fleur. They should be made Sir Roger and Dame Fleur Musselle for their immense contribution to wildlife rescue and rehab.

Absolutely. Those two people are amazing.

self appointed & unwanted, why interfere with nature, it's called survival of the fittest and vermin herring gulls are doing ok without dogooders who obviously in his case were not, interfering.

I wonder if they were inviting 'charitable donations' for taking in these gulls...

Roger and Fleur do such fantastic work with limited resources. Please support them in any way you can.

John Steed wrote:
self appointed & unwanted, why interfere with nature, it's called survival of the fittest and vermin herring gulls are doing ok without dogooders who obviously in his case were not, interfering.

I have to agree. The explosion in seagull (Herring Gulls) numbers since the date of the last survey (1998-2002) has caused misery for our smaller birds and human health and safety. The issue has become so serious that a summit conference has been called and will take place in Parliament toward the end of this month. It is being sponsored by the Minister for the Environment and leading gull expert, Peter Rock, will be warning the government (DEFRA) that we have a crisis in this country with far too many gulls, especially the urban type which has grown to millions along with their coastal cousins. Various reports from the RSPB and the YPTE have indicated excessive predation by gulls is wiping out smaller birds, colonies of puffins on at least one of our offshore Islands and vulnerable ducks. They have spread inland to nearly all our major cities and have run up bills in the millions as local government and private citizens try to defend themselves with roof nets, decoys, spikes, hawks--all of which are largely ineffective in controlling the population explosion. The RSPB have reported a remarkable turnaround in numbers in the Severn Estuary and have been labelled a "new urban menace" with numbers having doubled in London in just a few years. Sadly, the RSPCA and DEFRA have been telling us that numbers are in decline because their most recent survey, "Operation Seabird 2000" which began in 1998 and concluded in 2002, gave very rough and ready counts that have since become dangerously dated as recent years have seen a virtual epidemic. Hopefully, the crisis will be addressed fully as Rt Hon Peter Aldous MP, minister for the environment, tackles the problem with the backing of a large number of backbench MPs who represent beleagured towns and cities where excessive numbers of gulls are both threatening our delicate bio-diversity and human health and safety. The couple who have been banned are an example of ignorance of the threat these birds pose--it is a step in the right direction to ban them. One of the proposals to go before Parliament will be to have a national survey, to make feeding gulls a criminal offence, to order the use of hessian-type gull-proof rubbish bags, to remove the blanket protection order to allow culling (most countries around the world are already culling to reduce gull numbers due to the threat to other wild birds and human health), to coordinate local goverment action so that the problem is not shifted from one town to the next and to educate the public as to the extent of the threat these birds present and why they need to be controlled. If they were rats they would already have been the subject of emergency action but as they are birds the emotional reaction is vastly different. Many see the gulls as a seaside "treat" or think people can simply move away from the seaside if they do not like being woken at 4 am with high pitched shrieking followed by daily dive-bombing. As these gulls have spread over the entire nation, especially in our urban towns and cities, there is no longer an option to move away from them.