They need an eagle-eyed employee to get the flock away.
A British zoo is looking to hire someone who will sport a giant inflatable eagle costume and flap their wings to chase pesky seagulls away from the dining area.
“At Blackpool Zoo it goes without saying that we love all animals! And as a seaside resort, Blackpool is not short of seagulls,” it said in an ad that has gone viral.
“However, the seagulls are proving to be a bit of a nuisance when it comes to trying to steal food from our visitors and our animal enclosures!” the ad continues.
“We need to do what we can to keep the seagulls away from our main visitor dining areas, which is why we are looking for a team of people to join our Visitor Services team as ‘Seagull Deterrents,’” it adds.
And people are reportedly crowing about the chance to wear the goofy, inflatable eagle outfits.
The zoo’s publicity agency told Insider that the ad has “broken the internet,” with at least 200 eagle-eyed applicants so far from around the globe.
The ideal candidates “must be outgoing as, if this week is anything to go by, they will be approached for pictures by a lot of people,” the zoo said.
“Lively, energetic, fun, and, most importantly, an excellent flapper, will be top of the essentials list during interviews,” it added.
The zoo has already tried using eagle-shaped kites and “large statues of various birds of prey” and trained live birds that flew around the property.
But when those efforts failed, it decided to wing it with costumed characters.
“The costume is something the seagulls won’t have seen before, and as intelligent birds, they will naturally not like it,” the zoo told Insider.
“The costume also makes a sound when the person is moving, which is something else the seagulls don’t like.”
Khaled Fawzy, the zoo’s head of birds, told the Wall Street Journal that the problem got worse after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted last summer and crowds returned with their appealing snacks.
“Suddenly, it was like a feast for them. They just went crazy,” he said about the gluttonous gulls, which snatched food right out of visitors’ hands.
“They love ice cream. They’ll take the whole cone and swallow it in just one go,” Fawzy told the Journal.
There is a compensation pecking order for the candidates.
Those 21 years and older make about $13.50 an hour, while those between 16 and 20 are paid $3.50 less.
