Stadium battle of birds venue

A seagull puts on an aerial display inside Forsyth Barr Stadium on Tuesday night, in front of...
A seagull puts on an aerial display inside Forsyth Barr Stadium on Tuesday night, in front of fans and television viewers watching the Otago v North Harbour ITM Cup match. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
A circling seagull caught on camera searching for a way out of the spotlight inside Forsyth Barr Stadium is not the only one with ruffled feathers.

Stadium staff are waging a running battle with the birds inside the roofed venue, located near the city's waterfront.

Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive David Davies yesterday conceded seagulls were proving to be a "constant source of irritation".

Dozens of birds were making a habit of nesting high up in the south stand's steelwork - as well as elsewhere - and depositing their guano on everything below, including seats and the playing surface, he said.

Mr Davies had planned to deploy countermeasures to scare off the sea birds - including, if necessary, trained hawks - but steps taken to date had achieved mixed results.

Staff swept and cleaned seats before every match to ensure customers "aren't greeted by something unspeakable", he said.

Ground staff also kept an eye out for deposits on the field, as well as weeds sprouting from them, he said.

"What's in their waste is generally seeds from somewhere else," he said.

So far, the birds were causing nuisance value, rather than permanent damage, and the problem was not unique to Dunedin's stadium, he said.

Earlier plans to consider deploying a trained hawk handler - as Mr Davies had while chief executive of Queens Park Rangers football club - were not practical, he said.

"The reality is we have got an ongoing problem, every night, and we can't employ a natural predator permanently."

- chris.morris@odt.co.nz

 

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