BOISE, Idaho — Seagulls are a problem at the Ada County Landfill for a number of reasons.
They pose a safety hazard to heavy equipment operators, they carry foreign diseases, and they can wreak havoc on spaces that are not within their natural flyway— such as Idaho.
So who do you call?
Rebecca Weeks is the Education and Outreach manager for the landfill and explains what happened next.
"They're just very messy to work with, but also a big safety issue," said Weeks. "We had so many seagulls landing on the garbage that they would flock up into the windshields of our compactor drivers and our dozer drivers."
At one point, the Ada County landfill was dealing with over four thousand seagulls.
A couple of years ago, the Ada County Commissioners decided to do something about that.
Enter Hawk Proz.
Owner of Hawk Proz, Alyssa Pravongviengkham, told me this about their success. "As soon as the seagulls saw me take off the hood, they started to retreat."
The Hawk Proz are professional and licensed falconers who work not just at the Ada County landfill, but many other locations where seagulls and pigeons are a problem.
"Our job is to eliminate that teaching," explained Pravongviengkham. "Because every year that they're teaching their new babies— there is a new generation of birds visiting the landfill,
And as far as what the wild hawks think about Pravongviengkham's employee, Helli, they tend to learn by example.
"If these hawks are taking an interest in the seagulls, the wild hawks will actually come in and watch and see if it's something they want to do," said Pravongviengkham.
According to Ada County, the $112k that was budgeted last year is well worth it for the landfill and its neighbors.
