Calpe to employ seagull cannon this summer

By Paul Deed

FOR more than 10 years Calpe Town Hall has been struggling to find ways of deterring its gulls from flying over the town’s seafront port area.

After several failed attempts, this summer it wants to implement a system of cannons designed to propel nets which expand in mid-air and entrap passing gulls.

This is a matter of serious concern, said the council, because the gull presence is destroying the ecosystem of the area due to accumulated guano – bird droppings – and is threatening the physical safety of tourists and locals.

The guano carries germs and is a corrosive compound on both metal and brickwork.

Gulls are quite large, especially close up when as many locals and tourists have witnessed, the birds are very aggressive in their search for food, to the extent of dive- bombing restaurant tables and pedestrians carrying food.