A Brilliant Idea - BMO Field’s Hawk
Posted on September 4, 2007 - Filed Under Cool Ideas
Check out this awesome idea to deal with the seagull problem at BMO Field. You can read the full article here.
As our local soccer team works out its growing pains, so too does its home stadium. The seagull-to-human ratio at BMO Field has been on a steady incline, and everyone from the players to the fans have felt their presence. Until now.Perceptive spectators attending the Toronto FC against D.C. United match on Aug. 25 would have noticed both the distinct absence of gulls and the ominous presence of a hefty brown hawk perched near the park’s press area.
Gulls love a good time, especially when there’s food involved, but they are terrified of hawks. Well aware of these truths, park management has hired one such predator - a Harris hawk named Bitchy - to stand guard during matches and other events, compelling the fine-feathered gatecrashers to scavenge elsewhere.
“I think she is the solution,” says the park’s general manager, Marc Petitpas, who has been trying to resolve the gull problem since opening day. “She just sits on her perch all game. Pretty much doesn’t move. But the seagulls will come nowhere near her out of fear. … ”
The four-year-old Bitchy (who was named by her trainer, Mike Givlin) has “a bit of an attitude,” Mr. Petitpas said, but poses no risk to fans, players or even other birds. “She’s tethered to her perch, so she can’t go too far. Just by being there, she stops the seagulls from disrupting play and bothering people.”
Anyways, kudos to whoever thought of this brilliant idea. If it was up to me, I probably would have hired some 15 year old kids to shoot seagulls with pellet guns. So much for my dreams of employing restless teenagers or selling them a live version of “Duck Hunt”.
- Christian
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