Members of a North Ayrshire community council have asked Dundee City Council for advice on its seagull cull.
Largs Community Council has reached out to ask for advice on what steps can be taken to combat problem birds.
The Courier revealed in August that Dundee City Council has shot 165 birds and 30 chicks since the start of 2017.
The council has also removed 401 individual gull eggs as measures to control numbers intensify.
Shooting gulls to control numbers is only considered after non-lethal measures have proven fruitless.
However, at a recent meeting of Largs Community Council, members decided to write to councillors from the City of Discovery to ask for help in finding solutions to deal with aggressive gulls.
Some members of the community council have called for gulls in the area to be shot.
The community council’s environmental spokesperson Patricia Perman has now contacted Dundee City Council to ask for advice.
Largs, a popular seaside town, has its own issues with seagulls. One father recently reported a gull flying into his baby daughter’s pram.
However, according to an environmental expert from the area, culling the gulls would prove to be ineffective.
Dr Phillip Cowie, a tutor with educational charity The Field Studies Council, said: “People have to stop feeding birds, we have been saying that for years.
“People don’t realise in feeding birds, wildlife is going to be shot.
“If they knew this I would think that they would think again.
“There is not an increase in gulls. All that happens at this time of year is that juveniles are very hungry and people start to give them food.
“It’s more about training people than it is training birds.
“Shooting birds is a very temporary fix and, in the modern era, I think it is a very backwards step.”
Dundee City Council say they will respond to any request for information.
Dundee Lord Provost Ian Borthwick has previously said he fears the city’s gull population is growing.
Mr Borthwick believes discarded food and unsecured rubbish is making Dundee streets more appealing to birds.
