A new digital approach to educate tourists on seagulls has been launched in St Ives.

The town’s Business Improvement District (BID) has supported the cutting-edge approach to educate tourists by launching a new Snapchat Geofilter, which is a clever overlay to capture the where and when of a Snap in a fun way.

The ‘don’t feed the gulls’ Snapchat Geofilter is active on the wharf when using the Snapchat app, a prime area for tourists in the town and so far it has reached over 13,000 people.

Carl Lamb, St Ives BID manager, said: “As the summer months are in full swing, we continue to come up with new initiatives to educate visitors and locals on gulls, as this is an issue that isn’t going to go away. The Snapchat filter is a creative and fun way to communicate our message and will hopefully educate a younger audience.”

To work alongside the Snapchat filter, eateries around the town have also been supplied with ‘don’t feed the gulls’ branded napkins to hand out to customers with food purchased including pasties and ice creams.

Last year the BID launched The Daily Gull newspaper, a large printed sheet of greaseproof wrap for takeaways on the sea front. This initiative won an industry award at this year’s PRCA awards for its fresh approach.

St Ives BID has already invested in ‘don’t feed the gulls’ signs and seagull spikes around the town, working alongside the new ideas aimed to increase human awareness of gulls and limiting the birds’ chances of an opportune swoop for food.

Carl added: “We hope the amalgamation of various initiatives we have funded in the town will help support businesses during this busy time, ultimately helping reduce incidents involving the gulls.”