I’m not down for getting sh*t on. Middle school gave me enough of an opportunity to experience that. Currently, however, it seems like every other day I see another glaring sh*t stain on the paintwork of my beloved, Taco, the Tacoma. As I get home and whip out the garden hose my mind goes to the perpetrator, none other than the common seagull, that is initiating this attack on automotive pride.
After scrubbing on some lovely purple excrement for a while you might be wondering, Why isn’t this stuff coming off? According to guidetodetailing.com, bird poop has a PH of around 3.5 to 4 making it acidic. It essentially burns itself into your paint and/ or wax coating leaving behind potential stains after almost any period of contact.
For someone who likes to keep their car looking nice, this is an issue. AHS Senior Sasha Neyra commented that her, “good paint,” has protected her vehicle from any excess discoloration but still finds sh*t stains are quite an annoyance.
“I just wish the birds would be more respectful,” said Neyra.
Jenny Haggerty is a senior and bird lover at Arcata High who has also noticed the prevalence of these attacks, and their lack of adherence to Tiger RISE norms.
“You are a car lover Owen but you don’t love every single car. I think I’m similar. I can love the sparrow or the pretty songbirds, but think seagulls are the spawn of the devil,” Haggerty said, continuing to point out what draws these seagulls into our parking lot.
“It’s all the food we throw out after lunch, I’ve seen them flocking around the trashcans.”
Proper food waste disposal would be an immediate solution but, this might not be as attainable as you’d think.
“Most of the student body just leaves [their trash] everywhere,” AHS senior and Go Green Club officer Ella Ivan said, continuing that she didn’t think that students would change this behavior either.
It seems the seagulls are not fully to blame. They have essentially been lured by an artificial hellish ecosystem that is a high school campus. However, to a vehicle-owning high schooler, their goopy little bombs from the sky serve as one more annoyance to the day.
“I’m more annoyed that it happened to my car. Out of any car, why did it have to be mine? Oh, and there’s like no power lines nearby, like, come on!” Ivan said.
