FEATURE
Wing man – Kill Line technician Dale Scurr with hawk Billy.
BIRD AND THE BEES
WORDS: DAVE ROBSON PICTURES: CHRIS BOOTH
Why hawk Billy is a key part of Kill Line’ s team
Meet Billy – the handsome high-flyer who’ s helping Teesside-based pest control specialists Kill Line get a grip on gull problems.
Harris’ s hawk Billy is the firm’ s latest weapon in the ongoing battle to bird-proof buildings.
With seagulls – and particularly red-listed herring gulls – problematic but increasingly protected, it’ s vital that firms try to prevent them nesting on their sites before their presence becomes hugely disruptive and potentially costly.
And that’ s where Billy’ s abatement work comes in.
Billy isn’ t allowed to grab, kill or upset nesting birds. However, his presence in an area makes gulls fear a predator is living among them, so it’ s best to nest elsewhere. In short, he’ s a visual deterrent – and a striking one at that.
And when combined with other birdproofing options on the market that Kill Line also offers, including audio and laser scarers, gels and anti-bird spikes, it’ s usually enough to persuade those troublesome gulls to find another home. Formed as a full-time business five years ago by former farrier Sean Mooney, Kill Line has a customer-focused approach to a full range of commercial and domestic pest control services.
No job’ s too big or small for a firm that has the experience and expertise needed to get work done to the highest standard, with insect, honey bee, rodent, bird and mole removal among its many services.
Billy’ s the newest team member at Kill Line which, as well as Sean, also includes pest control technicians Dale Scurr and Ellis Hoey, plus Lynsey Anderton in the office.
Where Billy goes, Dale goes too because, having reared him since he was young and having spent hundreds of hours training him, he’ s the only one Billy responds to.
And, says Dale, the feathered friend he started training last year is now more like a“ well-trained dog” than a fierce bird of prey.
He said:“ If I let him off his lead, he’ ll just go and sit on a roof, then I just call him back in again. He always comes back to me because he sees me as his source of food.”
Sean believes there are no other locallybased pest control firms offering their own bird of prey abatement work, with others sub-contracting outside the area.
And with another Kill Line hawk hatched last year, Billy will soon have company for work that Sean says is becoming increasingly important.
He said:“ The numbers of gulls outside town centres is dropping rapidly, so the last real stronghold for them is within builtup areas.
“ They like big buildings with flat roofs and parapet walls where other birds can act as lookouts, so industrial buildings are prime locations for them.
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