The clever solution the Sydney Opera House is using to get rid of pesky seagulls
<p>Restaurants and bars lining Sydney harbour at Circular Quay, including the outdoor Opera Bar at the Sydney Opera House, have been forced to take creative measures to handle the hoards of complaints from customers about seagulls stealing their food.</p>
<p>And they've successfully done this by hiring ‘Seagull Patrol’ dogs.</p>
<p>Roxy is just one of the multiple canines being used to patrol the popular foreshore strip for the last few weeks, and employees are saying the strategy has been working a treat to keep the birds away.</p>
<p>Opera Bar Venue Manager Steve Davis says the seagulls had become such an issue for businesses, that staff were trained on how to protect the food of customers.</p>
<p>“It was to the point that we have written it into our staff’s manual that they had to run to the site of a seagull attack to assist the guests,” he told <a href="https://twitter.com/9NewsSyd/status/1087618895245012992">Nine News.</a><br /><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/umbraco/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/622dc5d7adcb4c09aad39c67a0d54526" /><img style="width: 406px; height: 228px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7822915/ch9new.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/35237e00eec2457f8693da8898620ac6" /></p>
<p>The birds have proven to be stubborn, with the dogs being one of many methods used to try and stop them from bothering patrons.</p>
<p>“We tried sonic deterrents, we tried wire galoshes over the food, we tried a robotic hawk that didn’t work either, the seagulls seemed to like him more than be scared of him,” said the Opera House Visitor Experience Liaison Jade McKellar.</p>
<p>Jade said the dogs so far have been a massive success story. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr">Sick and tired of seagulls dive-bombing the dinner plates of tourists at waterfront restaurants near the Opera House, managers have brought in a team of crafty canines… <a href="https://twitter.com/alicemonfries?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alicemonfries</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9News</a> <a href="https://t.co/rf5NjlUYwn">pic.twitter.com/rf5NjlUYwn</a></p>
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/9NewsSyd/status/1087618895245012992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
<p>What do you think of Opera Bar's clever solution to keep seagulls at bay? Let us know in the comments below. </p>
