By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Government shooters continue to kill gulls at Lake Auburn, but the culling effort is slowing.

Fewer than 200 of the birds have been killed since the effort began in November, estimated Norm Lamie, the general manager of the Auburn Water District.

The pair of shooters, who work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are being helped by two Auburn and Lewiston waterworks employees.

Lake Auburn supplies drinking water to the two cities. Officials noted higher-than-usual fecal coliform counts during testing of the water and linked the increase to the arrival of the migratory gulls.

Excessive fecal coliform in water can lead to gastrointestinal illness in humans. The water districts treat the water with chlorine to kill the germs. Continued high test results could result in the cities being ordered to build a $40 million water filtration plant.

The decision to begin killing the birds followed unsuccessful efforts to scare them away by using pyrotechnics.

Lamie said Wednesday that continued testing of water shows that the effort to rid the lake of gulls has succeeded in reducing fecal coliform counts. He said shooting will likely be halted within the next week or so as the gulls finish their migration to the ocean.

In the meantime, Lamie said he’s been told that increased numbers of gulls have been noted on some nearby ponds, which suggests that they may be altering their migration as a result of the shooting at Lake Auburn.

The water district has fielded some complaints over the effort to rid the lake of gulls, Lamie said, but most of the callers have complained about early morning shooting that wakes people rather than the killing of birds.

Shooters take to the lake primarily at dawn and dusk, times when the birds are most likely to be found at the lake.

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