Police in Southgate shoot and kill at least 200 seagulls - KMSP-TV

It's something you really do have to see with your own eyes.  The video does it no justice.  You can hear the squawking from miles away.  It really is like something out of a movie.

Only Alfred Hitchcock himself could've images a site like this, the invasion of hundreds and hundreds of birds, this time in real life taking over Southgate, Michigan.

"Went into White Castle's about midnight and I could hear them screeching and hollering all the way across the street," said Southgate resident Roger Kruzman.

"I looked over and I swear there were over a thousand seagulls, I mean easily over a thousand.  Could not believe what I was seeing," said Kim Galea, who lives in Southgate.

"It's getting worse, and I don't understand what the draw is.  There's no food.  There's nothing there for them, but I mean they just took up a residence and that's it," said Southgate resident Linda Paul.

Since March, the city has tried everything to move them out from blow horns to bulldozers.

"It's not working.  They keep coming back," Galea said.

Then Thursday the unthinkable, Southgate was granted a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use lethal force and shoot the birds down.  In military formation dressed in fatigues and carrying assault rifles, Southgate Police carried out their orders -- shoot to kill.

"Obviously, there would be some people that would disagree that this is inhumane, but we have very qualified shooters that are actually shooting the birds," said Public Safety Director Tom Coombs.

"It'd be nice to get rid of them, but I don't know that that's necessarily the right solution," said Galea.

Police say Southgate residents were never in any danger.  Thursday they killed at least 200 birds.