Ways of combating scavenging seagulls and pushy pigeons hungry for a bite to eat was up for discussion at a meeting of Tenby Town Council this week.

A letter from a person on business in the area recently came before councillors at their meeting on Tuesday night, raising concerns once again on the volume of birds that frequented the resort on the hunt for food.

“I have visited Tenby many times over the last 20 years, mainly for business, but with the occasional holiday, but today (Monday, July 11) I was surprised by the number of seagulls and pigeons on the beach, and was even more surprised to see a lady feeding them!” wrote John Parry.

“It was obvious that the birds knew they were going to be fed, which suggests a longstanding problem.

“I am aware that the issue of feeding birds is not unique to Tenby, but, as an occasional visitor, wondered what action the council was taking to stop this particular form of unacceptable - dare I say, antisocial behaviour?

“As you are aware, this type of feeding will teach the birds that humans are not a threat and they will become more aggressive in their search for an easy meal indeed,” continued Mr. Parry, stating that the woman he saw feeding the birds was mobbed several times!

The town clerk, Andrew Davies, told members that RNLI lifeboat member, Clr. Ben James, who couldn’t be present at the meeting, had referenced to him the fact that his own young daughter was attacked on one of Tenby’s beaches, with a gull attempting to take food out of her hand last week.

“Clr. James also mentioned a matter in St. Ives recently where their RNLI crew were called out after someone had been knocked backwards off a wall and fallen 20 feet below, when a seagull had attacked,” Mr. Davies said.

Clr. Will Rossiter said that he was speaking up for the gulls who could no longer find natural food and relied on humans to feed them.

“They have to be thieves for their young gulls who are going to get hungry. It is not antisocial and it is not unacceptable. The gulls are rapidly disappearing and they are an asset to Tenby!” he remarked, with Clr. Trevor Hallett backing his colleague’s comments, and stating that the gulls were not attacking, but simply after food.

Clr. Tish Rossiter was ‘gobsmacked’ by her fellow councillors’ stance, with Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas also strongly disagreeing with them..

“This particular lady referred to in the letter has been warned by Pembrokeshire County Council about feeding the birds, but seems to take no notice. It is causing damage to the cliff top and frightening young children,” commented Clr. Mrs. Rossiter.

The Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall, said that he had particular issue with the site around by Castle Hill, where birds were constantly fed.

“If anyone is unfortunate to walk around there five minutes before the birds are fed, then there are swarms of gulls and pigeons gathered, making it impossible to get past,” he said.

“Throwing food around is littering, and the specific issue of people going out of their way to feed the birds on a daily basis, is something we should be generally discouraging,” added Clr. Blackhall.

The town clerk pointed out that there was signage located all around the town, purchased by the town council, warning people not to feed the gulls.