Maintenance worker accused of deliberately killing gull chicks in Järvenpää
A nature photographer and teacher in Järvenpää has accused a maintenance company employee of deliberately driving two protected gull chicks off a roof, leading to their deaths. The maintenance company, Aronia-Palvelut, denies the allegations, stating that its worker did not cause the birds’ deaths.
Auli Leivonen, who had been observing a gull family nesting on the roof of an apartment building in central Järvenpää, witnessed the incident on Thursday morning. According to Leivonen, the brood consisted of three black-headed gull chicks, a protected species with an indicative monetary value of €203 per individual.
Leivonen told Helsingin Sanomat (HS) that she saw the maintenance worker approach the edge of the roof, causing one chick to flee over the side. The chick fell to the ground and died shortly after. Leivonen found a second dead chick on the other side of the building but did not locate the third. She described the scene as deeply distressing, saying she wept as the first chick died in front of her.
Leivonen identified the maintenance company as Aronia-Palvelut after seeing its vehicle at the scene. She called the company, which, according to her, apologized for the incident. However, when she confronted the worker, he reportedly shrugged and dismissed her concerns, telling her to file a police report. Leivonen said the worker later collected the dead chicks in a garbage bag before leaving.
Aronia-Palvelut has strongly denied the allegations in a Facebook post. The company stated that its employee was cleaning roof drains when he noticed an unidentified object near a ventilation pipe. Only upon closer inspection did he realize it was a gull chick, which then flew away. The company claims the worker had no contact with the chick and was unaware of its species. When he left the roof, he found two dead chicks in the courtyard, which the company asserts were already deceased before his arrival.
MTV Uutiset reports that Leivonen observed the incident from her sixth-floor apartment, where she had been monitoring the gull family for weeks. She described seeing the worker ignore warnings from a flock of gulls before approaching the chicks. The second chick, she said, was also forced over the edge and fell to its death.
Leivonen has filed a police report, though the Eastern Uusimaa Police had no record of it as of Thursday afternoon (HS). The black-headed gull is a protected species, and its indicative value is used in legal proceedings to determine potential compensation.