Tourists visiting Venice are being given water pistols to fend off the Italian city's famously aggressive seagulls.
For years, Venice hoteliers have worked hard to find the best way of stopping seagulls from stealing food and attacking tourists. Now, the Venetian Hoteliers’ Association (AVA) has finally come up with a solution to scare off the thieving gulls.
The Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal and the Gritti are the first two hotels to provide their guests with water guns to deal with the pest. The guns are bright orange, a colour that has been deliberately chosen.
Paolo Lorenzoni, the director of the historic Gritti Hotel, told ANSA news agency: "they really work, they're also coloured orange, which those birds don't like".
Various solutions including electrostatic pulses and acoustic systems were proposed after visitors reportedly became alarmed by the seagulls' aggressive behaviour.
“The huge number of seagulls, in addition to being an aggressive and annoying presence for people, represent a problem for health and hygiene, as well as for buildings and the environment,” said Francesco Boemo, a hygiene and environment expert shared with The Guardian.
