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Blackpool Zoo is recruiting for a team of human ‘seagull deterrents’ to dress as massive eagles and keep the pesky birds away.
Look, I’ve checked the date and this is definitely not an April Fools’ joke, alright?
The real actual job, which is listed on the Blackpool Zoo, requires a ‘friendly’, ‘energetic’ and ‘outgoing’ person to don the costume and keep seagulls away from the seaside attraction.
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Which I understand because seagulls really are the hooligans of the ornithological world, aren’t they?
The zoo explains that a deterrent is required, as seagulls have been known to nick food from visitors as well from inside the animal enclosures. I can attest to this because I once had an ice-cream ripped from my hands during a day out in Rhyl.
Anyway, I digress - for those interested, the listing explains: “At Blackpool Zoo it goes without saying that we love all animals. And as a seaside resort, Blackpool is not short of seagulls.
"However, the seagulls are proving to be a bit of a nuisance when it comes to trying to steal food from our visitors and our animal enclosures.
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“We need to do what we can to keep the seagulls away from our main visitor dining areas, which is why we are looking for a team of people to join our Visitor Services team as ‘Seagull Deterrents’.” Fair enough.
As well as the qualities mentioned above, the ideal candidate will be ‘visitor focussed’, ‘flexible’ and ‘outgoing - as you need to be comfortable wearing a bird costume’.
The listing adds: “This role will be offered with variable seasonal hours.”
Anyone interested is encouraged to email a cover letter to [email protected].
Last year, wildlife sanctuary in Devon urged Brits to rethink their views on seagulls and called for people to be kinder to the feathery fellas.
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In an appeal on the charity’s Facebook group, which has a community of 3,800 users, founder, director and CEO Lianne Phillips shared a graphic titled ‘Understanding Gulls’.
It outlines a number of examples of specific seagull behaviour, linking them to human interference.
“Our attitude to the herring gull has to change,” it says.
"They are intelligent and opportunistic yet their numbers have dropped by 50% in the last 30-years, making it another species to be on the red list.
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“Gulls do not need culling - they need to be understood!”
Explaining how human action can impact gulls’ behaviours, the post continued: “They steal our food… we feed them.
“They invade our rooftops… we have invaded their nesting ground. They scavenge our streets… we litter our streets.
“They should be out at sea… we overfish. They come inland… we have mountains of landfill.
“They swoop to attack people… we run them over, maliciously attack, poison, shoot them… they are protecting their babies.”
Claire Reid