Angry Birds: Argentina to shoot seagulls to save whales

AFP Photo / Stefan Sauer

Argentine officials are concerned about the growing seagull population, which has developed a habit of pecking at surfacing whales. Authorities want to shoot the birds, but activists say measures should be taken to contain seagull populations.

Officials blame the seagulls. Environmentalists blame humans. All agree, however, that the threatened southern right whales are under attack, and must be saved. If no measures are taken, the whales may change their migration route, upsetting the region’s biosphere and hence damaging tourism industry.

Seagulls off the coast of Chubut province in southern Argentina seem to have taken a page from Alfred Hitchcock’s famous horror movie ‘The Birds’ – they discovered that pecking at whales coming up for air leaves open wounds. If seagulls continue to peck away at skin and blubber, they can seriously injure the whale.

Marcelo Bartelotti of National Patagonia Centre, a government-sponsored conservation agency, said in an interview with the Associated Press that “It’s not just that the gulls are attacking the whales, but that they’re feeding on them, and this way of feeding is a habit that is growing and becoming more frequent.”


Marcelo Bartelotti of National Patagonia Centre, a government-sponsored conservation agency, offered a solution to the problem. A 100-day plan to shoot down seagulls that have learned to attack whales received support from the government of the Chubut province. According to Bartelotti’s plan, each downed bird would be recovered along with the ammunition, preventing possible damage to sea life.

Shooting the gulls is “surely not the most pleasant measure, but it’s necessary to do something to control a situation that has been growing after many years of inaction,” said Chubut Environmental Minister Eduardo Maza.

Environmentalists, however, believe the issue at the root of the problem is humans, who have created enough garbage to let the seagull population grow uncontrollably.