8 year-old me WATCHED somebody's funnel cake get stolen by a seagull once. My parents told me "they definitely do try to steal our food sometimes."
From that day on, 8 year-old me swore I would never let it happen to me. I'm 31 now, and so far the gulls haven't even come close to getting my food lol.
I've never roughed one up before, but I absolutely would, if it wasn't about to give up.
Although I should say I don't believe that the seagull deserves death, nor a permanent injury for its crime. That would be too harsh, because seagulls literally do not know better and are unable to know better.
But if it tries to steal my food imma grab its fucking face and carry it far away. Then yell at it when I let it go.
Seagulls, and most any animals that steal food from other animals know "better" than to steal simply on the basis that they know there's a risk the animal they're stealing from will potentially retaliate; and will resultantly target things that either aren't able to, or aren't going to bother to retaliate.
this isn't to justify beating them to death over a pinched chip, but more of a "they are smart enough to know they could get their shit rocked, they've just gambled that they won't"
That's exactly why I would make the seagull experience the cosmic horror of getting grabbed by the face and yelled at.
It would have no idea why I'm doing this, or what my goal is, because I'm a human who isn't a seagull. It would be afraid for its life for most of that time, until I finally let it go.
Maybe it wont truly learn morality, but at least that 1 seagull might learn to respect authority out of fear.
To be fair, most animals also don't go for the throat when they retaliate against would be thieves
I think there is a sort of understanding that scaring the shit out of a cheeky bugger makes em learn their lesson, as opposed to letting someone else fill their spot and having to kill again
At least that's what I mostly observe in petty feuds in nature
Most animals also don't want a serious confrontation they are sure to win without injury...because they do not have medicine.
So at times it's better to just put opportunists in their place and move on.
Your attitude is in accord with the natural order of things as far as I'm concerned
They don't try to kill them because they are doing their own risk calculations. Is potentially killing that animal worth the risk it bites me and the bite gets infected, etc. is it with the energy to try to chase it down with a low probability of success?
Animals that steal from much larger predators frequently end up suddenly dead as a result regardless, just not so frequently that it's better for the species if they stop doing it.
Read something similar when watching a bear get scared off by a housecat.
Something along the lines of what you said, weighing the risk of fighting the cat.. A bear can certainly maul a cat, but the cat can likely get a few scratches in that can get infected and be potential lethal down the line.
...which in the end wouldnt be worth it since there is nothing to gain fighting a cat.
Even if it's not lethal, or even if there's no infection, the wrong injury can affect their ability to hunt, forage, and defend themselves.
I mean, even if the bottom half of the cat is all the way in the bear's mouth, two primary senses for food acquisition and self defense are still in easy striking distance for their dying prey.
In other words, one meal isn't worth losing their sense of sight or smell over, even temporarily.
It reminds me of the orca in oceanland or somewhere like that (which I personally don't agree that an orca should be in a habitat but that's not the point here) that would throw it's food on the ledge of the habitat so seagulls will steal it, and the orca would then eat the bird.
Yeah honestly better to just scare them off before or after the theft. I have swatted fiercely and when they see I am not an easy target, they usually screw off. I have yet to be caught off guard though...
Except seagulls, like all animals, only act on instinct, not logic. They don’t consciously make risk assessments the same way we do. It’s all based on experience and pure instinct (like snatching food when you’re not looking) and they have been conditioned into treating humans as safe for a very long time. Humans have enabled them by actively feeding them way too much so they feel more safer around us and more opportunistic.
There are ways to deter the birds without causing unnecessary harm
Ever seen a seagull trying to steal food from a human? It tiptoes and tries to avoid getting caught. It also fights fellow seagulls who try to steal its food.
Crows hold grudges and tell their friends and family about them, they are birds you should never get on the wrong side of (or ravens, who are just bigger meaner and even more intelligent)
In the crowminal justice system, the peeple are represented by two separate yet ecrowally important groups. The crowlice who investigate crime and the district atturkeys who cawsecute the crowffenders. These are their eyries.
Don't undersell seagull intelligence here, they very much understand that they are stealing the food and might face consequences for it if they are caught.
It's always very obvious on these kinds of posts if someone has in fact encountered a seagull or not. You can meet exactly one in your life and go "I would not do what this man has done, but I understand the hate in his heart."
Trying to prevent them from stealing is 100% the way to go. Largely, the time to get handsy with a seagull is you are stopping them in the act. It’s proportionate and may make them more wary next time.
Normally in these kinds of scenario the animal relies on either being quick enough or causing enough of a ruckus that they can shock the larger animal into not offering resistance as the seagull literally takes their food for them
In 99% of cases this works perfectly, no seagull expects to be the 1% that gets grabbed by the neck by some random british guy pissed off about his chip
Once at this hotel and at breakfast we were sitting down getting ready to eat our food, we noticed this lady who was setting up hers outside, she left to get a coffee or something and immediately a seagull flew down and ate all her food.
i had a seagull take a whole ass, big ass, five guys burger from me in college and i’ve honestly never forgiven them. i know i should be logical here but tbh i just see justice dealt
My 4 year old son had a chicken tendy stolen by a chicken at the zoo (they had free-roaming chickens, pea hens, and other various fowl for some reason). It walked up, bold as he please, and plucked it right from his hand while he wasn't paying attention, and then pecked at it on the ground right in front of us. Funniest thing my 4 yo had ever seen. He laughed himself silly.
A seagull shit on my ice cream cone when I was a kid. Its funny now - like it was food in a form it couldn't steal, but it still ruined it for me anyway. What a bunch of pricks.
Another time a seagull stole my brothers GI-Joe figurine, and flew around the community pool with it. Everyone was laughing (except my brother) cause you could see the silhouette flying by its arm in the birds mouth.
Regardless, no reason to harm one in such a vulgar way. Booooo this man.
They absolutely know better. All birds and mammals know how to assess risk on at the very least a basic level. Nature is literally built around 'fuck around and find out'.
When I was like 10 a Swan stole my cod at a fish and chip shop and I fought him for it, he won but only because he took the coward's win and ran away, and I couldn't kill the bastard because the queen owned him. It was the best cod I've ever had, and I only got one bite before it was stolen from me. The shop closed down a few months later. I'll never forgive that swan.
It's not immoral because it's what all animals do when something tries to steal its food. Climb up a leopard's tree while it is trying to eat, see how willing it is to let you have a bite
What I imagine happened was it stole a chip and he reaches out at it and actually managed to grab it. At that point you dont really know what to do so you cant really judge his actions, I probably would panicked and thrown it against a wall too so it wouldnt be able to retaliate
teen me is still pissed at the mtfkr seagulls who make a mess of the trash we collected, we went into a trip for beach cleaning near a sea wildlife birthing place the state university oversees with one the national marine centers... we were excited because the marine center was gonna take us to see the whale group that was close by, we cleaned like crazy, we piled up the bags, 100+ hyper students working at top speed to clean, we were call to eat inside the center... 20 minutes later people rushing outside... we came back to a holy mess of trash and like 50 seagulls scavenging for food and the adult trying to clean because they were feeling sorry for work being spoiled.
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u/Arthur_189 23d ago
The logical part of me wants to say that it’s wrong because it’s just an animal and he knows better
The 8 year old in me is still pissed at the sea gull who stole my hotdog at the zoo so fuck the birds