Renowned for trying to steal your ice cream or your chips, seagulls are not the most popular birds. However, some people try to feed them, which is frowned upon by Litter Free Dorset.

The community organisation is bringing back its ‘Don’t Feed the Locals’ campaign this summer. The Litter Free Dorset team are working with town councils and local takeaway businesses to spread the message to discourage intentional and accidental feeding of seagulls.

Litter Free Dorset is calling on locals and visitors to: never leave food unattended; Bin any unwanted food and if the bins are full, to please take all rubbish home.

Sophie Colley, Litter Free Dorset’s coordinator said: “It’s really important we do not feed seagulls as encouraging this bad behaviour can lead to them relying on scraps from humans. This can result in greedy gulls pulling rubbish out of bins, scattering litter everywhere, to find scraps or stealing straight from our hands or laps. No one wants their alfresco dinner ruined by some aggressive gulls.”

Litter Free Dorset is working with town councils to display banners along seafronts and in car parks while calling on takeaway businesses to display campaign artwork (window stickers and posters) to spread the ‘Don’t Feed the Locals’ message with customers. There are already 60 businesses across Dorset displaying stickers/ posters and encouraging their customers to bin their rubbish or take it home with them.

Sophie said: “If the bins are full please hold onto your rubbish to dispose of at home. Seagulls are clever and will pull rubbish out of overflowing bins and tear apart bags of rubbish placed next to/ on top of bins, scattering litter everywhere while on the hunt for tasty treats. Once littered, this rubbish can be easily blown or washed into our watercourses and out to sea.”

Litter Free Dorset says this is not an anti-seagull campaign. Feeding seagulls human food is very bad for their health. These foods are low in nutritional value for the gulls and contain a high calorie content, which differs from their natural foods. This can result in malnutrition and long-term health problems for the gulls. Instead, by not feeding seagulls human food, they will be encouraged to hunt for natural food for themselves.