100 days – Day 31

 

100 days – Day 31: Flying Vermin

 

A few years ago, Dumfries, which is plagued by these swooping and sometimes vicious gulls, which have been known to attack pets and people, employed a company with hawks. These birds of prey would be allowed to circle the skies above the Town, and frighten off the gulls.

I remember my wife, Helen, admiring one of these beautiful creatures – on display with the hawker – in the town centre.  A wee boy was fascinated with this bird, and asked its keeper, “When you let it up into the sky, does it come back to you?”

The guy, very deadpan, replied, “No, son, we just get a new one every day!”

 

GRAEME DONOHOE

Published: 26th August 2008 in the “Sun”

DUMFRIES is under attack from marauding seagulls. Politicians were forced to hold a special “gull summit” in the town to work out a way to tackle the menace of aggressive birds.

Environment Minister Mike Russell has vowed to “get tough on seagulls and the causes of seagulls”. Weary postal workers now say swooping gulls are a bigger danger than DOGS.

 

 

Gull force … our man braves the streets of Dumfries with a snack