Milwaukee parks officials have hired a team of border collies to keep E. coli-spreading gulls away from Bradford Beach.

The Milwaukee County Parks Department said teams of two border collies will patrol the beach for eight hours every day through Labor Day, discounting holidays, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Friday.

The beach had such a challenge with the seagulls, Parks Director Sue Black said. This is a low-tech solution. It's been very, very successful.

The program, which began as an experiment two weeks ago, is overseen by Migratory Bird Management. Katie Gramoll, a field operations manager for the group, said border collies are perfect for the job because they give the eye to unwelcome birds.

It's a predatory action similar to what wolves and coyotes and foxes do when they're stalking their prey, she said. It's why they're so effective at dispersing these birds.

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