NOISY seagulls in Glasgow's Merchant City should not be culled, an

animal rights organiser said yesterday.

Mr John Robins, secretary of Animal Concern said if the gulls were fed

with drugged bait, they could end up falling on to the heads of

pedestrians.

Mr Robins said: ''I have seen it happen before when birds were given

doped bait to knock them out so they could be collected and destroyed.

''At Eyemouth a number of years ago, the gulls flew off and just

dropped out of the sky. If that happened in Glasgow, and they fell in

front of motorists, it could cause accidents.''

Mr Robins has written to Glasgow District Council, which is

investigating complaints from residents in the Merchant City that flocks

of noisy gulls are wakening them early in the morning.

He said there were more humane ways to remove the seagulls.

Among the options Mr Robins suggested to the council are: planting

wooden or metal dummies of crows or birds of prey on roosting sites;

placing blunt-ended spikes in nesting spots, or hiring people to collect

the gulls eggs during the nesting season.

A district council official said the council was still monitoring the

situation and had no plans to cull the gulls in the Merchant City.