If you ever visit a landfill or a dump, chances are the skyline will be crowded with circling, shrieking gulls that descend on the heaps of garbage like it’s a lovingly prepared feast just for them. Blanketing the area with their excrement, they carry the bacteria-rich trash and dump it on nearby communities, polluting water sources and leaving health hazards to rot in the open. Sometimes they even get aggressive, dive-bombing people who come too close.
That’s where Free Bird Falconry comes in.
Employing a team of eight raptors, owner Julia Staines releases her avian charges into the skies of the Region of Waterloo landfill and recycling centre on Erb Street to frighten off the pests – sometimes capturing an unfortunate gull or two in the process – to re-establish the food chain and mark the site as off-limits.
