Dive Brief:

• The Monmouth County Reclamation Center in Monmouth County, NJ uses 10 falcons to keep thousands of seagulls from settling into the landfill.
• The county received a notice of violation of its permit for the landfill in January of 2012. State solid waste rules require that the site operate with a minimal amount of “insects, rodents and birds.” At any given time, the landfill had 5,000 seagulls flying overhead, scavenging through the trash and dropping waste, thereby contaminating the area and creating a health risk to the community and workers.
• The group of falcons is a $450,000 annual expense for the site, costing about $45,000 for each raptor per year. The landfill would face fines by the state Department of Environmental Protection ranging from $4,500 to $50,000 for each incident.

Dive Insight:

Because falcons are a bird of prey, and hunt seagulls for food, the falcons are effective at preventing the swarms of gulls from overtaking the landfill. Seagulls scatter as they don’t want to become the falcons' next meal. The county had previously implemented many other tactics in an attempt to get rid of the birds. Nothing worked; the gulls always returned to the site. The liaison for the county solid waste department told the Asbury Park Press that the falcons are “critical” in the removal of the seagulls.