Dogs will patrol the Opera House to keep pesky seagulls away from diners and their food

Seagulls are the city’s unwanted visitors and they’ve got our real tourists in a furious flap over them stealing meals from diners at the world-famous Opera House. But now cute four-legged security guards will patrol the area, scaring off the pesky birds.

They are the city’s unwanted visitors and they’ve got our real tourists in a furious flap over them stealing meals from diners at the world-famous Opera House.

But a pawfect solution has been brought in to deal with the swooping seagulls who have proven to be the biggest gripe about Sydney posted on social media by travellers.

Jade McKellar, Director of Visitor Experience at the Opera House, said they are bringing a very cute and effective solution to help improve the diners experience at the harbourside venues.

Patrol dog Roxy is one of a number of dogs who will patrol the Opera House. Picture: Tim Hunter

Roxy with her handler Carlos Beduschi keeping diner’s safe. Picture: Tim Hunter

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“Everyone loves the Opera House and the seagulls have been a problem for many years and we have tried for a number of years to reduce the impact with no success,” Jade said.

“We were inspired by the Australian Maritime Museum and in August last year we invited their resident seagull dog Bailey to the Opera House to patrol for seagulls.”

After Bailey’s first visit it proved a success in keeping the seagulls at bay while diners enjoyed their meals.

A few months later the Seagull Patrol Dogs idea was born and the formal trial began earlier this month in time for the busy summer period with the help of James Webb founder of Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

Pesky seagulls are known for stealing diner’s food at the Opera House. Picture: Twitter/@MichelePelos

“Our company trains and walk over 600 dogs around Sydney and we know in and out the different characters of our dogs and which one’s would be good for this trial,” James said.

“The dog has to have the natural instinct to prey on seagulls and the reason for the success so far is because we have an endless base of dogs that we can rotate and see which one fits best.”

And it’s already proved a success.

Steve Davis, Venue Manager Opera Bar said seagull attacks were a huge problem to the point it was written into the staff policy that they had to run to the site of the attack.

They have already seen success weeks after the dogs were brought in. Picture: Tim Hunter

“Opera Bar had wire-cloches and other ways to attempt to address the problem which were ineffective and the seagulls preyed not only on unattended food but sometimes food right in front of the customer,” Steve said.

“We have already recorded a significant reduction by 80% in meal replacements due to seagulls and patrons having been more relaxed and not having to protect their meals from the birds,” Steve said.

The staff have described the restaurant as a ‘different place’ where they can carry meals without fear of seagulls swooping, and no glass breakages or meal replacements when the dogs are on duty.