The president of the United States, whoever it is, gets blamed for just about everything. If seagulls create a mess on Dunkirk properties this year, someone might blame Donald Trump.

The city’s federally sponsored seagull mitigation program was a casualty of the cuts enacted by the Trump administration, Dunkirk Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak (D-First Ward) said at a Common Council meeting this week.

The initial seagull effort was spearheaded by Luczkowiak in 2023. She and other city officials got business owners in and around the Save-a-Lot Plaza on Fourth Street to pay for an effort by federal workers to remove seagull eggs.

The removal of the eggs successfully discouraged the hordes of gulls that used to ravage the area from returning. Another egg removal in 2024 was intended to keep the momentum going from the initial effort in ’23.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services has let us know they are not going forth with the program… not with our municipality, or any other municipality or corporation,” Luczkowiak said Tuesday. “However, they only spoke about this year, and are hoping to resume next year, as staffing levels will be back to normal. As we all know, there have been federal cuts.”

Luczkowiak said the city can get a permit for the work, but it would take months to get it, “so for this year hopefully, the past two years’ efforts will make some sort of difference. And we do have a $2,000 surplus from the previous two years.”