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Gulls Invade Utah State University Campus

Eric Jungblut

It’s springtime in Northern Utah, and that means mammals coming out of hibernation and birds returning from warm climates.

 

Gulls have invaded the eastern edge of the Utah State University campus near the Living Learning Community residence halls and Old Main Hill. And they’re causing problems for LLC residents like Anne Toller, Kimberly Lamping and Caitlyn Chamberlain.

They're annoying and they're everywhere and they're so loud in the morning.
They kind of swarmed in all at once and I had no idea why they were here, and they woke me up at like two in the morning.
I hate the seagulls. They are flipping gross. A, because they poop everywhere and when you run to class you have to duck and dodge because you're going to get pooed on, and B, I hate them because they are so loud.

So just where are these gulls coming from? According to the Housing and Residence Life office at USU, the gulls always come in this time of year and are attracted to the remains of the Easter egg hunt on Old Main Hill.

The birds' squawking is affecting the sleep patterns of residents like Cayla Swenson.

They're not as loud at night but in the mornings, like 7:15 every morning, it's just like seagull reunion. Seriously? Right now? So that's good, I need to get up at 7:15 but I don't need to set an alarm any more. Seagulls just kind of help with that

The gulls aren’t expected to hang around the LLC for much longer, and most residents will welcome their departure: residents like Melissa Fife.

To be honest, every time I walk outside I feel like I'm in a horror movie and that they're going to attack any second. They're pretty scary.

The Housing Office said the gulls shouldn’t stick around for much longer and will be gone in a week or two.

Eric is from Las Vegas, Nevada and studies broadcast journalism at Utah State. In joining the Utah Public Radio family, he has now delved into each of the "Big Three" of journalism: print, television and radio. His dream is to someday live and report the news in Chicago, Illinois (or wherever his career takes him.) In addition to reporting for UPR, Eric is the copy editor at the Utah Statesman and contributes to Aggie TV News.