A wildlife sanctuary is urging Brits to be kind to seagulls that swoop to attack members of public, claiming they are ‘misunderstood’.
Anthena Wildlife Care (Rehab) in Plymouth posted the appeal and explained that humans can affect seagull behaviour when they interfere with them, noting things like littering and invading their nesting ground.
The sanctuary said there needs to be more understanding about the animals and reminded people of their intelligence.
According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ( RSPB ), all species of gull are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
It is illegal to intentionally harm them, destroy their nests or hurt the contents of the nest.
An RSPB social post read: “Our attitude to the herring gull has to change.
"They are intelligent and opportunistic yet their numbers have dropped by 50% in the last 30 years, making it another species to be on the red list.”
“Gulls do not need culling - they need to be understood!”
The post explained how human interference affected the gull’s behaviours:
“They steal our food… we feed them.”
“They invade our rooftops… we have invaded their nesting ground.”
“They scavenge our streets… we litter our streets.”
“They should be out at sea… we overfish.”
“They come inland… we have mountains of landfill.”
“They swoop to attack people… we run them over, maliciously attack, poison, shoot them… they are protecting their babies.”
The post clearly resonated with a lot of people and received a positive response.
One person posted: ''Agree. I love seagulls.
''As a kid you could buy tiny ceramic ones.... I've one my granny collected too. We cherished them then.''
Another said: ''Their noise to me is the song of the sea... it wouldn't be so wonderful without it.''
One said: ''I love gulls and am saddened by the way they are treated by most humans and because they are on the red list.''
Another said: ''So true, I’m sick of people disliking them.''
