Seagulls at AT&T Park, an ongoing problem.

You've probably seen it first hand, if not, then you have certainly seen it on a televised Giants game - the invasion of seagulls. We're going on our eighth year of being a season ticket holders, and the problem has existed since day one. At around the 7th inning, you can see a few of the "scouts" hovering by the scoreboard and left field foul pole. Soon thereafter the rest of the flock soon arrives and flies around the ballpark waiting for the game to end to feast on leftover garlic fries, burgers, hot dogs, cha-cha bowls, et al.

While it may look cute to see some of the seagulls flying around, it has become a huge distraction and safety issue for fans paying good money to enjoy a game. The problem has not been addressed with the Giants, and for whatever reason they have continued on ignoring the issue.

Now, if we had our druthers, we would invite every card member of the NRA to come to the yard and take out those seagulls. But this is San Francisco, so we're sure a "Save the Seagulls" group exists and would have a tizzy-fit if such an extreme plan was put into place. So how do we solve the problem in a safe and humane way? Easy ... implement the sport of Kings into the equation - falconry. Falconry is a medieval sport where predators - usually Peregrine falcons or other raptors - are trained to go after live game, or in this case other birds. In the modern version of falconry, raptors don't kill other birds, but merely chases them away. Think of them as a bouncer of nightclub or bar - they dictate crowd control. The reason this works is because trained raptors is one of the most feared predators in the avian world. They are effective against all bird species except other raptors and turkey vultures.

Today, falconry is commonly used at a number of airports and military bases around the world to chase off birds from colliding with airplanes during takeoff and landings. Why can't the Giants hire a falconer to chase off the seagulls from AT&T Park? They could simply hire a falconer and have him and his raptor hangout outside of the ballpark and chase the seagulls away without anyone in the park seeing it.

This is probably the simplest and easiest solution to this problem ... do you think the Giants are listening? Probably not, but if they wanted to address the problem, we have the answer for them.

Seagull scouting the bleachers for some grub

All you can eat at AT&T Park - for the seagulls

Falconry at Toronto Airport

Falconry at JFK