odds and ends 6/9

Nesting gulls raise stink at convention center

The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE -- Nesting gulls are raising a stink at the Midwest Express Center.

Officials at the convention facility say the problem stems from ring-billed gulls and herring gulls near the metal air intake structures on top of the building.

The odor from their waste and from the food they regurgitate to feed their offspring enters the building's ventilation system.

"It stinks big time," Colleen Hartley said Thursday while working at a display booth for the University of Phoenix Milwaukee campus during a technology show.

"The odor is horrendous, and it's going to get worse as it gets hotter," added Robert Seefeld, director of building services.

Pest control workers sprayed corn oil last month on hundreds of eggs laid in nests on the Midwest Express Center roof. Workers removed 704 gull nests last week from the roof.

But federal and state laws protect the birds and any nests in which eggs have hatched.

Seefeld said his staff has sprayed disinfectant on air intake units and added carbon filters to the ventilation system.

But descriptions of the smell by vendors at the center Thursday ranged from a wet carpet in a musty basement to the cow barn at the Wisconsin State Fair.