Over the past few weeks, the mischievous bird has swooped down on several people and their dogs, pinching woolly hats from walkers’ heads, as well as their pets’ tennis balls.
John Pinel, principal ecologist at the Environment Department, has confirmed that the department has received several complaints about the bird, and said a number of signs would be put up by the sea wall near the Barge Aground Jersey Heritage property to warn people to be vigilant.
‘We have heard a range of reports about the bird from Islanders – some people think it’s quite aggressive and others think it’s less aggressive,’ he said.
‘It’s not normal behaviour for a seagull to be constantly swooping down on people. We will be putting up two or three signs warning people there is a potentially aggressive bird in the area.’
St Ouen dog walker Jarn Dodd said earlier this week that the bird had attacked her dogs and the wife of one of her friends. The seagull is said to be particularly active between the slipway beside Jersey Pearl and up to Kempt Tower.
Mr Pinel added: ‘I’ve been down to the area and had a look at the bird. We’ll keep monitoring the bird for a while to see if it gets bored [and changes its behaviour] or moves away. In the meantime, we would encourage people to flap their arms to get it to fly away if it comes near them.
‘If we find that it is showing threatening behaviour towards people, we may reconsider the approach we take.’
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