Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium has a unique solution for staving off pesky seagulls looking to feast on food leftover from large events held at the venue.
According to LAist, operators have trained predatory hawks to helps in scaring off gulls.
Jorge Herrera, who trained the hawks, says seagulls create a mess, as they have to urinate and defecate frequently as they circle the stadium for food. They also bring in trash from elsewhere.
Herrara says the hawks are also helping keep the flightpath clear from planes coming in and out of LAX. The bird can get caught in engines and force planes down.
“It could cause a big situation,” Herrera the LAist. “We don't want to have a cloud of gulls in the flight path.”
Wild hawks do hang out near the stadium, but they're not trained to keep gulls away. Herrera's birds are.
“We’ve seen them — they come in and they're trying to do our job for us,” Herrera said. “And it's real fun for us to see, and the gulls don't budge off of the ledges around the lake.”
Herrara's hawks are trained to fly a straight line through where the gulls are congregated. The hawks are motivated by the meat they receive upon returning from their sorties.
The hawks are more than just mindless predators, Herrara says. “They're not just killers,” he said. “They're smart. They each have their personality and you just work with it. Some are more shy than others. Some are more social. Some are more mellow. I have a variety of different personalities, and I work with what they give me.”
For Herrara and the hawks, the key is to do the job while staying out of sight.
“We stay low key,” Herrera said. “We don't want to attract too much attention because, unfortunately, we're not really there for show and tell. We have a job to do because birds can get out of control.”
