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No. It doesn’t maim or damage them. It is specially designed to give offenders an electric shock, that’s all. Used properly, it only affects those gulls that mug people for food. It has only a fraction of the power of an electric fence on a farm, for example, and runs off two little AA batteries.

Yes. Provided you use it according to the instructions, it is legal. It is the only effective, non-lethal method of teaching gulls not to mug people for food. But you have to let a gull come to you in a normal way – you can’t go chasing gulls or anything else.

We get lots of strikes while testing in areas where “muggings” are frequent. Aversion therapy is well known. We have never knowingly had a gull come back for a second go after being zapped. While you’re eating, most gulls will wait nearby to be fed or collect fallen scraps – they have impressive patience outside the baby-feeding season. It is only a few gulls that have learned to snatch food from people. Hopefully, we can get them all to wait patiently.

Because it won’t happen. Despite threats and fines, people will always feed gulls – gulls are wonderful, interesting creatures, and fascinating to many holiday makers who rarely encounter such large birds up close. In addition, children don’t understand why they can’t feed the “big birdies”. In coastal areas, gulls are a cheap and convenient way of disposing of food waste and left-overs – they gobble food up long before any rat could take an interest, so the food waste never gets to pong in the bin awaiting collection in summer. The problem is that more food means more gulls, etc, etc.

No, providing you follow the instructions. It only affects those gulls that mug people for food. It doesn’t affect any other gull or any other creature. It is only used to protect human health and safety, and far from being cruel, it is designed to prevent innocent gulls from being killed because of a few naughty individuals. Provided you use it like eating an ice cream in the regular way, and a gull comes to mug you, it’s not cruelty. But you can’t chase or poke innocent animals with it for fun – that would be cruelty. Gulls must come to you, not the other way round.

No. The electric shock wires are on the “ice cream” top. The handle (that looks like the “ice cream” cone), contains the batteries and electronics safely inside. You can’t get a shock from the handle. You can only get a shock from touching the “ice cream” top. In normal use, it is no more dangerous than a torch light. Even the electric shock is not dangerous to people, providing you don’t have a susceptible medical condition – it’s a bit like those electric shock gags you can buy.

No – quite the opposite. We actually like them. We live by the sea in West Cornwall and gulls are part of our lives. They are intelligent, fascinating creatures. We are trying to protect them from being killed because they injure people. There is a growing call to kill gulls/destroy eggs as more gulls learn to live near people.

Because gulls that mug people for food often injure people, especially children. As more gulls learn to mug for a living, more people are getting hurt. Already, local authorities are seeking permits to kill gulls and we are trying to prevent more people resorting to culling them. You can only get a licence to kill a gull if you have tried every non-lethal method without success. Evil Ice Cream is a non-lethal method.

Yes, in the EU and UK. Gulls are protected species for good reason – their overall numbers are falling. You can only get a licence to kill a gull to protect human health and safety. Nothing else. The licences are obtained from Natural England and are rarely issued.

No. You can use it anywhere, provided you have the permission of the land owner.

It has two AA batteries inside. The power from the batteries is stepped up to about 1000volts but at a very, very low current, so although it sounds dangerous, it is still just the power from two little AA batteries. The higher voltage is fed to wires in the “ice cream” top, so anything grabbing the “ice cream” gets an electric shock. It only works when you press the button on the handle, so you can’t leave it lying around in a “live” state.

Evil Ice Cream won’t injure a child, although it will give them a sharp shock. For that reason, we tell you it is not a toy. Although it only works when you press the button, keep it out of the sight and reach of children. When you store it away, take the batteries out.

Because they want the food and mugging is just another feeding strategy. Muggers are particularly determined while they are feeding young, so the most active mugging season coincides with the height of the tourist season in summer. This process means that the best muggers are the most successful breeders, so they produce more muggers in turn. We want to break that chain.

Zuggans.com is our primary business. We are introducing a small collection of esoteric products for niche markets over the next few years, all of which will have their own dedicated websites and social feeds. As we add more products we will add the links to all of them in our About us section.

*** IMPORTANT ***
Please be aware that Evil Ice Cream products are part of the Zuggans.com family. All purchases will be processed through Zuggans and therefore all receipts will show as Zuggans and NOT Evil Ice Cream. Buy with confidence, we are very happy to help with any questions or issues. Contact us anytime.