Tourists equipped with water guns against harmful seagulls Venice

According to the hotel owners, the seagulls are “aggressive and annoying”. For example, they loot guests who eat out. In recent years, the nuisance of seagulls in the Italian city has gotten out of control.

These images show a seagull snatching an ice cream from a girl’s hands in a Venetian street:

It may be funny to see, but hotels are completely done with this. The hotel association even held a special meeting where plans were made to deal with seagulls.

Bad for health and the environment

Francesco Boemo, hygiene and environment expert, was also present. He says against Italian media: “The large number of seagulls is not only annoying, but it is also a health and hygiene problem and bad for buildings and the environment.”

It is not permissible to kill birds simply because they are protected. That’s why there’s been a lot of talk about alternative control methods, such as hiring falconers, making special sounds that scare the birds, or emitting scents they don’t like.

Orange water guns

The falconers were indeed hired, but it turned out to be far too expensive. In desperation, two hotels are now equipping their guests with orange water guns (orange because the seagulls don’t seem to like that color). “As soon as they see the guns, they fly away,” said Paolo Lorenzini of the Gritti Palace Hotel. “You don’t even have to use them, just leave them on the table.”