Battle against gulls gears up
Oamaru businesses may soon have a "serious option" to keep seagulls off their roofs.
The birds have plagued the Thames St businesses for years.
Their screeching can be heard throughout most of the day and their excrement on the roofs and footpaths leaves behind a pungent smell.
Activeoxy business owner Brendon Spencer noticed this as he was passing through town one day.
He noticed the building on the corner of Thames and Coquet Sts was particularly bad with seagulls on the roof.
That inspired him to contact the Waitaki District Council about trialling new deterrent technology from a West Coast-based company Birdzout, which was installed yesterday.
A series of wired capacitors are placed on the roof and once switched on, they create an electromagnetic dome covering the roof.
When the gulls fly near this dome, it gives them the seagull equivalent of vertigo to deter them from landing on the roof.
Birdzout commercial, industrial and innovation manager Charlie Johnson hoped to see "immediate results".
It is the third of its kind installed in New Zealand.
Mr Johnson said the company used similar technology on a building in Christchurch which used to house between 200 and 300 birds and is now almost entirely gull-free.
Mr Spencer hoped the technology could offer a reprieve to business owners in Thames St.
"If it works like we know it can, it's going to give the retail owners a serious option to remove the birds. It doesn't harm the birds, it just stops them from landing on the roof."
The trial will last for the duration of the seagulls' breeding season and is tentatively scheduled to end around the end of March.
To test the effectiveness of the technology, the installers have left half of the roof without the capacitors so they can compare how much of a difference it will make.
nic.duff@odt.co.nz
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