The fourth edition of the European Seagull Screeching Championship took place at the 'Verloren Gernoare' café near the Belgian coastal municipality of De Panne this weekend. This year, the gold medal went to a Portuguese scientist.
The competition started with the youth category up to 16 years under the name 'juvenile' – the name for young birds. The adults then took their turn, and the 'colony' category closed the competition with gangs of two to five noisy gulls. Participants came from England, Sweden and France, among others.
"The judges give a score out of 20," organiser Claude Willaert told VRT. "There are 15 points to win for the scream itself, and five for the behaviour. It is very important to have a good understanding of the gull's language."
The Portuguese participant, Simão João, is a scientist and understood observation well, said Willaert. "He listened and watched the gulls carefully. That's how he was able to make a difference, which earned him a gold medal.
'Make seagulls sexy again'
With 87/100 points, he took home the gold medal. Second place went to Dutch candidate Marjolein Keesenberg with 86/100. In third place was Joke De Keyrel from Belgium, with 85 points.
With the competition, the organisation wants to revive the image of the seagull. "People often call them 'the rats of the coast.' Seagulls have problems finding natural food on overcrowded beaches and/or on machine-cleaned beaches," said jury chair Jan Seys of the Flemish Institute for the Sea. "Therefore, they sometimes choose fast food offered by humans."
"They also have to look for a suitable nesting site and choose, for example, a flat roof as a relatively safe place. Bird flu also kills thousands of seagulls and seabirds. They deserve our sympathy."
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Belgian Joke De Keyrel (26) came in third place. She had dressed up as a seagull with feathers and won the bronze medal with the slogan "Make seagulls sexy again."
"Seagulls are allowed to be there," she said. "Stop calling them the rats of the coast or the sky. Every time I get to the sea, I associate their cries with happiness, tranquillity, peace, in short, a blissful feeling."
