Government plans for a specialist taskforce to combat aggressive seagulls have been attacked by an animal welfare organisation.
Last week Environment Minister Michael Russell announced a pilot project in Dumfries to look at solutions to birds diving at people, scattering rubbish and making a racket.
But the Animal Concern Advice Line (ACAL) claims that plans for next spring will be too late. It has also threatened legal action if any sparrowhawks are killed or injured in another initiative to protect racing pigeons.
ACAL secretary John Robins said the plan to stop gulls nesting on roofs starting next spring was a non-starter.
“Roofs should be gull-proofed now before the winter weather makes it too difficult,” he said.
“By next spring gulls will be nesting and then it will be too late to deal with this humanely.”
And he claimed that people living in seaside towns should stop complaining about seagulls as they were there before humans came along.
Mr Robins called Mr Russell’s scheme to trap sparrowhawks suspected of eating racing pigeons and release them in other areas as “bird-brained”.
He said Mr Russell had been advised that if predators were removed others would just move into the area, possibly making the problem worse because the original natural balance had been disturbed.
“Not only will this ludicrous idea fail to work it could result in protected sparrowhawks being injured or killed,” he said.
“If that happens we will call for those responsible to be prosecuted.
“If Michael Russell wants to protect racing pigeons he should stop pigeon fanciers culling birds which prove to be useless at racing.”
But Mr Russell defended his actions. He said there was growing concern about the menace of urban seagulls and government advisers were fully engaged in the Dumfries project.
“As far as racing pigeons are concerned, representations from the Scottish Homing Union over many years need to be treated with respect, given the experience and dedication of its members,” he said.
“Working with them and with Scottish Natural Heritage, who are central to the project, the government is helping to work up a revised version of a research project to assist Scottish pigeon-fanciers who wish to see a humane and non-lethal solution to constantly increasing sparrow-hawk predation.”