Venice’s Marco Polo airport has been forced to close briefly after an unusually large number of seagulls “invaded” the runway, leading flights to be delayed or redirected.
Various tools were deployed to ward off the gulls on Friday morning, including a falconer and an acoustic deterrent, according to Save, the airport’s management company.
“When the problem was discovered, the usual activities necessary to guarantee full safety for passengers and operators began,” the company said, underlining that the deterrents used “respect the fauna while guaranteeing safety at the same time”.
One of the redirected flights, which had been returning to Venice from Rome, was carrying the president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia. The flight circled for about 25 minutes before being redirected to Trieste, according to reports in the Italian press. Zaia reportedly said that about 200 gulls had blocked the runway.
Venice is as renowned for seagulls as it is for gondolas, canals and St Mark’s Square. Their presence has become increasingly problematic in recent years, however, as they snatch food away from visitors.
In one incident last year, a gull grabbed an ice-cream from a tourist as she walked across St Mark’s Square. Entertaining though the scene was for onlookers, some hoteliers were so frustrated that they equipped their guests with water pistols to fire birds.
In the past, some hoteliers have tried falconers to hunt the gulls, but calling upon their services every day proved to be expensive.
