Seagull Invasion Near Via Padova Causes Environmental and Practical Issues

Everyone has noticed for a couple of months the enormous colony of seagulls (talking about 400 specimens) that has taken the habit of flying around and making noise near via Padova and viale Rovereto. But now, apparently, it has caused some problems.

Problems and behaviors of the seagulls

It seems that the flock has chosen the flat roof of the Cartiera warehouse (facing viale Padova) as its nightly shelter, where the coating department is located. This choice would have been motivated by the heat (the warehouse is over ten meters high: the attic temperature is always high), but it would have caused significant inconveniences for the company.

Suddenly, it was discovered that the birds, with their excrement and the remains of nightly stolen food binges from the landfill, had clogged the rainwater channels, making rainwater drainage problematic during heavy storms.

Proliferation and environmental impacts

Throughout the summer, there has been an abnormal proliferation of seagulls in the area (the same sports field on viale Rovereto has often been covered with many white feathers), and the situation is, in some ways, concerning.

Though elegant in flight and spotless in appearance, the seagull represents in the sky, at least in popular imagination, what rats are on land and roach fish are in water: a sign of environmental degradation.

«They are synanthropic animals» – explains Dr. Franco Gatti, a veterinarian particularly experienced in the phenomena of urban animal species – «They are opportunists, organized and infestive, very quick to take over so-called trophic niches: for example, landfills, which are an inexhaustible source of food. The presence of a colony near the Cartiera does not surprise me: they can find warmth for overnight rest (and perhaps for nesting) and food very close by: the Maza landfill and the fish in the lake.

In some ways, their behavior resembles that of urban pigeons. What is certain is that seagulls are not part of the natural circuit in our areas».

Current problems and future prospects

Mute swans, ducks, coots, and now seagulls. The issue of the expanding population of wild birds is beginning to become a problem also in Riva. What do these environmental transformations mean? It is a question that, for now, has no answer.