Giants use 'Cha-Cha Slide' to disperse seagulls during games

Seagulls apparently aren't fond of the "Cha-Cha Slide."

KNBR's Sam Hustis tweeted a video in March showing a flock of seagulls flying away from Oracle Park as DJ Casper's 2000 hit "Cha-Cha Slide" played during a San Francisco Giants game. This prompted KNBR to ask, "Are the Giants using the 'Cha-Cha Slide' to scare seagulls away from Oracle Park?"

We now have the answer.

"We use the audio prompts (to deter the seagulls)," Alfonso Felder, the Giants' vice president of administration, told Michael Rosen of SFGate.com. "These prompts, combined with crowd noise, can be effective in dispersing the seagulls in moments when they become highly visible."

Felder said the Giants began speaking to "bird abatement" companies after noticing an unusually large number of seagulls in the stadium during the World Baseball Classic in 2013. The gathering of birds would get bigger when the Giants were pitching.

"We quickly came to the realization that it had to with noise," Felder said. "When we were at bat, obviously, every announcement of a batter, every positive play on the field when the home team is at bat generates significant applause, and so as a result, it was clear that the difference in terms of sound within the building was what was causing that dynamic."

Felder noted the Giants don't view the seagulls as a "significant" issue, but the "Cha-Cha Slide" has so far proven to be an effective and humane solution for the annoyance.