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Security at Federation Square is going to the dogs.
Border collies, kelpies and Australian shepherds will patrol Melbourne’s central plaza daily for the next six months to keep food-snatching seagulls away from picnickers and diners.
Tania McGregor at Federation Square with her seagull patrol dog Freya.Credit: Eddie Jim
Seven sheepdogs will be trained to roam between 11am and 3pm from November 17 in a trial modelled on the “Seagull Patrol” initiative at the Sydney Opera House.
Tania McGregor’s four-year-old Australian shepherd Freya attended her first training on Wednesday with James Webb, who runs the patrols in Sydney.
“She loves to chase birds, and she loves to be the centre of attention,” McGregor said of her dog. “So she’s loving being in the centre of Melbourne with everyone looking at her.”
The Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation, the state government body that manages Federation Square, said the program was funded via commercial income, not taxpayer funds.
Freya loves chasing birds and being the centre of attention.Credit: Eddie Jim
The corporation’s annual report, released last Thursday, said 60 per cent of Fed Square’s revenue came from tenancy rents, which amounted to $19.4 million last financial year.
Other commercial operations also included car parking ($5 million), venue hire and events ($4.3 million), and sponsorships ($539,978).
Federation Square and Webb both declined to share the exact cost of the new dog patrol program, deeming it commercially sensitive information.
Webb, however, was confident businesses in Federation Square would benefit after his success in Sydney, where he claimed to have saved restaurants money replacing food.
Mad Dogs & Englishmen seagull patrol dogs in action at Circular Quay in Sydney.Credit: Facebook
“They’d tried everything, but nothing had any effect whatsoever,” he said. “But when the dogs are there we were able to stop, I’d say, about 95 per cent of the food being taken.”
Webb said working dogs were trained to target and effectively herd seagulls, stopping them from sneaking up on lunching people.
“If they’re herding a sheep, they won’t go killing those sheep – they’re herding them. It’s the same with the seagulls,” he said.
Webb will train dogs over the next week, before he returns to Sydney and Melbourne-based handlers take over for the trial over summer.
Tania McGregor at Federation Square with her seagull patrol dog Freya alongside James Webb of Mad Dogs & Englishmen.Credit: Eddie Jim
“This is really quite bad for seagulls,” he said of Federation Square. “We’ve been to other places where we have dogs every day, and it’s not half as bad as this.”
Freya was still learning to chase away seagulls on Wednesday, and Webb said it would take time for the birds to learn the dogs weren’t going away.
However, Freya’s handler reckoned she was making progress, despite occasionally pausing for pats from passers-by.
“I’m pretty impressed,” McGregor said.
“When we got here this morning, there were seagulls everywhere, and it’s been harder to find seagulls as the day goes on. So that’s good!”
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