2025-08-20 12:13:26
Some angry Brits have fired “crossbows” at “aggressive” seagulls to protect their chips.
Citizens are getting fed up with the pesky birds swarming them – and often snatching their food.
And some residents in the Scarborough, North East England – including Toni Cher, 49, – have reported seeing the animals with “arrows through their heads”.
Toni is quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying: “People have been firing crossbows at them.
“They’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s awful.”
Amy Watson, supervisor at the Fishpan restaurant on Scarborough seafront, said people who feed the seagulls have caused them to become “aggressive”.
She is also quoted by the newspaper as saying: “People started feeding them.
“It’s just a human thing, but for gulls, it’s an easy meal. And what they do at sea is snatch.
“But feeding the gulls has led to issues of them getting more aggressive, and now some people have taken to trying to get rid of them.”
Meanwhile, in Salcombe, Devon, South West England, Steven Walker, the landlord of The Ferry Inn, has put water guns on every table in his beer garden – which have “Seagull Gun” written on them in permanent marker – to scare the gulls away.
He insisted the idea is not to harm the seagulls, but to fend them off if they try and take his customers’ food.
Steve says the initiative has worked because the birds “stay away” when they see the water guns.
However, the businessman has had to remind people that the water guns are to be used against the seagulls and not each other.
He is quoted by MailOnline: “We don’t want to harm the birds, although they are quite cocky and a bit of a pest.
“We just want to scare them away.
“We have to remind people that the water guns are for use against the seagulls, not each other.
“But we have definitely noticed that, after a few weeks, the birds have come to recognise the guns and stay away.”
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: “We acknowledge that gulls can sometimes be a nuisance, but we’d ask people to consider their own behaviours, too. If you eat outside, consider eating beneath parasols or close to walls where gulls find it more difficult to fly.”
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said: “The main concern about this strategy is it could encourage the idea that gulls are animals to be fought against, or that they’re somehow in the wrong.”
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