The last couple of years have seen more and more gulls coming to Prince George and nesting in Parkwood Mall, but this year it has culminated in a dangerous situation for many young gulls.
Dayna Slater from Good Caws Crow Rescue, a small home-based rescue dedicated to helping orphaned and injured corvids, has been overwhelmed with dozens of injured gulls over the past few weeks from Parkwood Mall.
She said at the end of May she received a call about a baby gull that had fallen off the roof and when she saw how many gulls were nesting there and flying above, she knew it was going to be a bad year.
“It's a very busy place and the gulls are not that smart this young. There's a lot less now but there was quite a few more babies on the ground, and they were getting in the way. People we’re running them over because they just they don't move that fast. They're unfamiliar with cars.”
She said she’s seen cases of dehydration, broken bones, and birds that have clearly been caught up under wheel wells with cars.
Slater noted the birds need to be near water, but because they are nesting at Parkwood Mall the only place for the babies to go is into traffic until they learn to fly.
“They look like should be able to just take off because the babies are quite large, but they just haven't figured it out yet. They just need a little bit of time. A little bit of patience.”
The birds have been identified as ring-billed gulls, which are more likely to be found inland, and are protected under Canada’s Migratory Birds Convention Act.
This means its unlawful to harm or disturb the birds’ nests or eggs.
Parkwood Mall has since put up signs warning the public that seagulls are in the area and marking off sections of the parking lot where the birds are congregating.
“I've been trying to inform the public about it. The mall seems to have started doing some things. They have some gull signs up to warn people that they're in the area and there's been water put out,” said Slater.
She added that she has a couple of volunteers who are driving through the mall trying spot any injured birds and noted that employees of the mall have been bringing gulls to the rescue as well.
“The babies are starting to leave and some of them are starting to fly. It's starting to dwindle now. Thank goodness.”
Slater said next year she’s hoping to work with the management of Parkwood Mall to set up nesting deterrents to stop the birds from nesting there altogether or at least making sure very few birds nest at the mall.
“They're not going to be there all summer. The babies fledge at about five to six weeks old. That is when they decide to leave the nest and then it's a week or two on the ground after that they take off.”
While the young gulls have been wandering through the parking lot, there’s also been rumours circulating online of malicious intent towards the gulls, but Slater says she has not seen any proof of such behaviour.
“If anybody can produce any proof of what they've seen, especially with the accusations of pressure washing off the roof or people throwing the birds off the roof — If that's happening, I would love to see footage of it, because then I can take it to the Ministry of Fish and Wildlife and we can work on it from there,” said Slater.
“But we don't we don't have any proof that, and I'm not out on a on a witch hunt to go after somebody who accidentally runs over a bird. Accidents are going to happen — You've got a whole bunch of wildlife in a really public place.”
Slater added that she appreciates Parkwood Mall's efforts to make more people aware of the birds in the parking lot.
“This is a new situation for Prince George. We've never we've never had goals here in this capacity. We never used to have them here at all. So, this is this is a learning thing for everybody.”
“BGO is respectful of the presence of seagulls at Parkwood Place and their place within the natural ecosystem,” said Parkwood Place’s management BentallGreenOak (BGO) in a written statement.
“We share the public’s concern about the gulls on the property and under the guidance of Environment Canada, we have taken a number of steps to try and keep them safe until they fully fledge.”
BGO said these steps include posting signage in our parking lots to remind drivers of the birds’ presence; providing information to our merchants about the birds and the fledge process; and sharing information with our customers and discouraging interaction with the birds.
