Restaurant hires 'bird shoo-ers' to get rid of ibises ruining customers' meals

The owner of a Gold Coast restaurant said the ibis problem has become so dire he’s had to hire professional “bird shoo-ers”.

Greek Street Grill owner Theo Kostoglou opened a restaurant in Surfers Paradise along the Esplanade about five years ago.

He said initially the ibises, also known as “the bin chicken”, would only go for scraps of foods, “chips and crumbs” but over the years they’ve turned into vultures.

“They’re not as fearful as they used to be,” Mr Kostoglou said.

“They jump on tables, and they steal food from people’s drinks.”

Mr Kostoglou said he told council about the problems he was having with the birds but they told him it was his responsibility to keep the food away from the animals.

“People come to the restaurant to enjoy the view of the ocean,” he said.

“It’s not as if we leave food outside. We take away scraps, but the birds are just too quick.”

Mr Kostoglou recently came up with a solution: get a member of staff to patrol outside for six hours to scare away the birds.

“We alternate it,” he said.

“We put staff members on bird duty. They enjoy it.”

He explained that he arms the person on “bird duty” with a spray bottle of water and vinegar.

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“Customers appreciate it,” he said.

“They love it. It does become costly though because we always need an extra person working.”

In a statement, council said ibises are protect under State Government legislation and it cannot remove birds from the precinct.

“Importantly, even if we did, ibis fly up to 20km daily from the hinterland to Surfers Paradise as they know there are food scraps left on dining tables," the spokesperson said.

"To physically relocate the 20 problem birds would only see them return within a day or so. So it is not a simple matter of relocating nuisance birds."

The spokesperson said council and the Queensland State Government had reduced ibis numbers on the Gold Coast and Tweed from 12,500 in 1998 to 2500 in 2017.

“There are less than 20 problem birds in the Surfers area and it is a matter for private food service areas to ensure they keep the birds away from their dining areas," the spokesperson said.

"The number one rule is don’t feed them, and don’t allow patrons to feed them. Council has ensured its public bins have lids and we do our daily bin collections pre-dawn seven days a week.

“If café owners ensured any food plates were quickly removed from tables as diners departed, we are confident that in a short time, the birds would realise that there are no food scraps available and would move on naturally.

“We feel for the café owners and have attended each café, with the Division Councillor, to explain to them their responsibility.’’