Dutch politician advocates killing protected gulls

This video is called Common gulls (Larus canus) in a breeding colony.

A year ago, Johan Houwers, Rightist MP for the VVD, the biggest Dutch government party, was in the news because he advocated the killing of wolves in the Netherlands following the discovery of a dead wolf at Luttelgeest.

Since then, Mr Houwers resigned from parliament, as he was suspected of crimes.

Now, there is another politician from the same VVD party, Heerema, who advocates killing protected animals: gulls. He says the law should no longer protect gulls. So they may be shot, or gassed.

BirdLife in the Netherlands has reacted strongly against Heerema’s proposal.

They say shooting gulls won’t help against problems of gulls messing up garbage. Humans not having garbage all over the place, and making safe nesting places outside cities, enabling gulls to leave cities, will help.

From 1999 to 2012, the number of black-headed gull couples in the Netherlands declined from 135,000 to less than 100,000. Herring gulls declined then from 65,000 couples to less than 50,000. Common gulls declined from 6,000 couples to less than 3,000.

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