Romans are sounding the alarm: the Italian capital is increasingly turning into a dining room for seagulls. The seabirds have not only taken a liking to garbage containers all over the city, but are also not afraid to steal food from people's hands. This is what the local portal Lifegate writes.
The inhabitants of Rome during the last For several years now, they have been encountering seagulls more and more often and up close. Although the capital of Italy is only 30 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, it was impossible to see birds here until the 1970s. However, with the appearance of the Malagrotta landfill in the vicinity, the situation began to change. However, even then, the city remained only a transit point for seabirds heading to the landfill.
In October 2013, the authorities closed the landfill. And since then, Rome has been transformed into a kind of large restaurant for seagulls, open 24 hours a day. Today, the birds search for food in containers and piles of garbage in almost every corner of the city. Seagulls are active both in the historical center and on the outskirts.
As experts note, seagulls have already officially moved to Rome and now nest and reproduce here without fear of humans. According to preliminary data, in a few years the number of individuals will reach 40 thousand. At the same time, seagulls are predators and can be aggressive. For food, they not only rummage through garbage, but also eat carcasses of rats and pigeons, and even steal food from people's hands. More and more often, local newspapers report that seagulls break windows and enter houses to grab a piece of food they see. Last January, in St. Peter's Square, a seagull attacked a dove released by the Pope in the presence of a large number of believers.
Italian environmentalists insist that urgent prevention and a policy to reduce the population of seabirds are needed. In addition, experts are asking the authorities to solve the problem of cleaning the streets from garbage and the impact on people who leave food on the street.
Source: news.turizm.ru