Federally sanctioned killing of gulls at state ferry facilities began a decade ago after an Edmonds terminal worker contracted an illness linked with exposure to bird feces.
As that employee recovered from a bout of psittacosis, the state developed plans to keep facilities clean of bird droppings and signed up with a federal agency to keep gulls from roosting in areas heavily used by workers and riders.
Since 1999, the state has spent roughly $1 million on the effort. It includes $316,087 for cleaning up the poop, which must be handled as a hazardous waste. The remainder has gone to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services Program to use lethal and nonlethal means to curb gulls’ presence in and around terminals. This year’s contract costs $67,315.
“We take the health and safety of our customers and our employees very seriously,” said ferries spokeswoman Marta Coursey.
“Balancing the needs of our marine wildlife with the needs of the traveling public is of paramount importance to us, and comes at a significant cost,” she said.
Ninety percent of what the agency workers do to control birds is nonlethal, said Ken Gruver, assistant state director for Washington and Alaska Wildlife Services program.
Every couple months, licensed agency workers carry out nighttime raids in which birds are forcibly removed and slain.
On average, about 60 gulls are killed each year. While it is likely some deaths occur at the Edmonds, Mukilteo and Clinton terminals, Gruver and Coursey each said statistics are not kept on how many birds are killed at each of the state’s 20 terminals.
“We’re not going out there to try to wipe out all the gulls. Only gulls posing a threat to human health and safety are removed,” Gruver said.
Different methods are used to make the birds seek other places to hang out. For instance, netting with holes too small for the birds to get through and too flimsy to hold their weight may be installed in some areas. Another diversionary tactic involves putting spikes on structures to prevent birds from landing.
The public became more widely aware of the policy of killing gulls since two Washington State Patrol troopers clubbed a couple of gulls to death at a ferry terminal in downtown Seattle last month.
What the troopers did was not part of the federally sanctioned program and the two have been placed on leave during an investigation of their actions.
Two means of euthanizing gulls are used. Nests found in terminal structures are removed by hand and the young birds typically are gassed with carbon dioxide in an aluminum chamber about the size of a microwave oven. Adults often are killed with low-velocity pellet guns.
Both methods are approved by the USDA as humane, Gruver said.
Gulls are a federally protected migratory bird, though not an endangered species.
They are known to swoop in and devour juvenile salmon. The federal agency is contracted to remove them from places such as the Columbia River to help protect the fish. It is permitted to remove up to 4,000 gulls a year statewide including those at ferry terminals, Gruver said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623, jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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