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As our local soccer team works out its growing pains, so too does its home stadium. The seagull-to-human ratio at BMO Field has been on a steady incline, and everyone from the players to the fans have felt their presence. Until now.
Perceptive spectators attending the Toronto FC against D.C. United match on Aug. 25 would have noticed both the distinct absence of gulls and the ominous presence of a hefty brown hawk perched near the park's press area.
Gulls love a good time, especially when there's food involved, but they are terrified of hawks. Well aware of these truths, park management has hired one such predator - a Harris hawk named Bitchy - to stand guard during matches and other events, compelling the fine-feathered gatecrashers to scavenge elsewhere.
One wonders if Bitchy - who, with a wingspan of nearly 120 centimetres, is one big raptor - could be major league soccer's new cause célèbre, filling a Beckham-sized hole in a sport that expects nothing less than perfection from its heroes.
Mike Givlin, Vice President of 'Wildlife Managament programs, holds his bird Bitchy in front of the BMO Field in Toronto. (Arantxa Cedillo/Globe and mail)
"I think she is the solution," says the park's general manager, Marc Petitpas, who has been trying to resolve the gull problem since opening day. "She just sits on her perch all game. Pretty much doesn't move. But the seagulls will come nowhere near her out of fear. ... We never had to stop play for them, but they would spread out around the field and walk amongst the players. And of course they have a tendency to leave droppings behind.
"Thankfully, we managed to avoid a Dave Winfield situation," he said, referring to the infamous 1983 incident in which the then-Yankee-outfielder accidentally killed a gull with a warm-up throw at Exhibition Stadium and was briefly charged with animal cruelty.
The four-year-old Bitchy (who was named by her trainer, Mike Givlin) has "a bit of an attitude," Mr. Petitpas said, but poses no risk to fans, players or even other birds. "She's tethered to her perch, so she can't go too far. Just by being there, she stops the seagulls from disrupting play and bothering people."
Bred and raised in captivity by Steritech Pest Prevention, the hawk has been training for this highly public role its entire life, having punched the clock in food-processing plants, outdoor parks and many other hot spots for the winged and peckish.
BMO Field brass intend to continue the hawk's trial run at Friday's Genesis performance - where it will get to prove its mettle as a security officer at a prog-rock concert - before settling back into its regular post during the next home stand against Real Salt Lake on Sept. 15.
"Ultimately, the fans will let us know what they like," Mr. Petitpas said. "... And so far, they seem to really like our new friend. Which is good, because she may be around a while."
And just like that, a new celebrity is born. Let there be merchandise.
