Transportation officials thought they were doing a good thing when they provided a nesting area along a major highway for several threatened species of birds. But after five years, the nests have attracted more than just terns and black skimmers. The birds' predators _ sea gulls _ have come out in droves and are crashing into cars on Interstate 64, which connects southeastern Virginia to the mainland.
Last summer, up to 60 gulls died on the highway every day.
Concerned about the potential for serious car accidents, the state Department of Transportation has called on wildlife officials to shoot some of the 5,000 gulls on the south island of I-64's Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The road carries more than 100,000 cars a day during peak summer months. More from The Washington Post.
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Goes to show you, we humans don't use our brains. Happens when we build freeway exit ramps that have people crisscrossing to get to an exit that's on the other side of the freeway, and happens when we build nests for birds right alongside a freeway. Obviously the planners forgot to take into consideration that if birds have nests, they'll propagate. And this in turn will attract other birds.
If we want to help any family of wildlife, we have to think of their needs, and proper habitat; not ours!
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