Locals are outraged after a tourist is alleged to have punched a seagull in a Cornish seaside town. It was reported that the suspect, who was with his family, struck the seagull and smashed it off a wall after it allegedly snatched his pasty in St Ives on Wednesday.
One person posted: ‘This coward yesterday grabbed a seagull in St Ives and killed it in front of families and children on the seafront.’ Another witness said: ‘After the incident, we put the gull in a quiet corner out of the way, as I know that quite often shock can be the worst thing for a wild animal. By the time I had finished my shift and got ready to go home, it was up, and trundling around. When we went to go and see it, it was gone.’
She added: ‘I’m really hoping it was just some extreme shock, but also know it had a sizeable rupture on its chest and took some ridiculously hard punches.’ On Reddit, one parent said a man had ‘grabbed a seagull and punched it almost to death in front of many people including my two-year-old son and nephew’, describing the scene as ‘absolutely horrifying’.
Despite seagulls seemingly being everywhere, divebombing for your chips at the seaside, they are actually a dwindling species – with just over a million in the UK. But one local defended the suspected attacker, saying: ‘I’m a bird lover but if a person ran up to me and tried to steal my property and I knocked them out, I would be praised. If he punched the bird instinctively protecting his property, it’s a lot different to planning the attack.’
Is it illegal to kill seagulls?
Yes — all gulls in the United Kingdom are fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This means it is illegal to kill, injure, or take any wild gull, or to damage, destroy, or disturb their nests or eggs, without a specific licence from the relevant national authority. Herring gulls receive absolute protection regardless of perceived nuisance, and penalties for illegal killing reach unlimited fines and up to six months imprisonment.
Police investigation
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: ‘We are appealing for witnesses and footage following a report of a seagull being attacked in St Ives. Devon & Cornwall Police received a third hand report about the incident which is said to have taken place on the seafront on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 June. Social media posts stated that a man punched and beat a seagull. Despite posts being widely shared online, the matter was not reported to us by anyone present at the scene.’
