First sterilization pass between Monday, April 10 and Saturday, April 15 from 7 AM to 8 PM
For several years, the number of yellow-legged gulls has been increasing, causing all the nuisance problems that this can entail:
The gull is a predator, but it is also a protected species. The regulation of this animal must be applied according to very strict rules. Only the sterilization of eggs is allowed, subject to prefectural authorization.
To regulate the gull population, the city of Nice decided in 2016 to innovate by sterilizing gull eggs using drones.
This technological sterilization project, continued this year, is carried out as follows: a drone disperses a sterilizing gel on the eggs to prevent them from hatching. The sterilizing product, designed to opacify the egg, is non-toxic to nature and humans.
Due to the duration of the laying period (two clutches are possible between the end of March and mid-May), two passes will be conducted: The first next week, the second in mid-May.
This sterilization operation requires safety precautions around the intervention areas, both on the ground and around the path of the drone.
Therefore, during each pass, pedestrian and vehicle traffic will be secured by a municipal police patrol on the concerned roads and areas.
The drone’s flight duration is a few minutes. However, the ground preparation can vary from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Each zone within the perimeter, as well as the order of passage, has been determined based on the number of complaints received from residents and co-owners by the Animal in the City Mission.
