Zoos often take to social media to share hiring ads to inform people about the work positions available in their organisations. Mostly, the jobs are about being a zookeeper or a veterinarian or even an engineer. Blackpool Zoo in Lancashire, however, shared about an unusual position in their job ad. They want someone who can be their human ‘seagull deterrent’. The zoo wants to hire people to dress up in bird costumes and scare away the seagulls.
They took to Twitter to share a post about this job role. “You may have heard we have a superstar in our midst! We don’t think there is a country on earth that hasn’t been talking about our vacancy for a human seagull deterrent,” they wrote. Alongside, they also posted a video. The clip opens to show a person wearing a bird costume and jumping around while flapping their hands.
The advertisement was put up after the seagulls continuously kept stealing food from visitors and animal enclosures, reports the BBC. “At Blackpool Zoo it goes without saying that we love all animals. And as a seaside resort, Blackpool is not short of seagulls. However, the seagulls are proving to be a bit of a nuisance when it comes to trying to steal food from our visitors and our animal enclosures. We need to do what we can to keep the seagulls away from our main visitor dining areas,” they shared in an advert, reports the BBC.