A campaign for a cull of herring gulls in Berwick, launched by the Berwick Advertiser, has won the support of its readers.

The weekly newspaper is calling on Berwick Borough Council to act over what it says is a growing problem, with increasing numbers of stories of people being attacked or having shopping being stolen by gulls.

Over the past few weeks the paper has received dozens letters from readers about the proposed cull, with around 80 per cent in favour.

It has also run phone and text polls, with more than 80 per cent voting in favour of a cull in both.

Advertiser reporter Thomas Baldwin told HoldtheFrontPage: “In terms of feedback the response has been unprecedented.

“On the first day we launched the campaign I didn’t get any work done because the phone kept ringing and I was talking to someone about seagulls every five minutes.

“The gulls have been a perennial problem around Berwick for years and years and get worse every year.

“It is something that crops up in the letters page every now and again or gets mentioned at council meetings but nothing ever gets done about it.”

The Advertiser’s campaign was prompted by the tale of Tweedmouth woman Lorraine Swinney, who was attacked by a gull and required hospital treatment.

She started her own petition and has already collected more than 1,000 signatures.

But not everyone is in favour, with the Advertiser this week receiving a small number of protest e-mails from people living outside the area.

In the late 1990s a planned cull was abandoned after animal rights protesters ran naked down the high street.

Thomas said: “There is a fare amount of resentment that people who don’t have to live with the problem force their opinions.

“We know a certain amount of gulls are part of the environment in a seaside town but until you have lived here it is hard to understand the extent of the problem.”

The council currently spends about £5,000 a year putting spikes on peoples chimney stacks, but the Advertiser says this is not working and that more needs to be done.

Other possible solutions put forward include discouraging and disturbing gulls at the periphery of the town to stop the spreading by nest removal or egg pricking, and tackling the problem of litter, which encourages the gulls.

Thomas said: “Few people would disagree that there’s a problem and it is becoming a major issue in the town.

“If this prompts the council to take this issue seriously then we’ll feel like we have been successful.”

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