2 Thief gulls
Two stores in British cities 195 miles apart are struggling with a bizarre issue. At both establishments, a thieving seagull keeps breaking in and stealing things. In one store, the screeching criminal has specialized in stealing bags of chips exclusively. The other one’s tastes aren’t as discriminating and it has grabbed everything from baked goods to newspapers. Yet, the birds have one thing in common — the owners of the stores they terrorize have nicknamed them “Steven Seagull.” The Lyndale Central store is located in Wyke Regis, a village by the picturesque sandy beaches of the West Dorset Heritage Coast. For years, however, the shop has been the victim of an ongoing crime spree. It’s Steven Seagull. “Trying to explain to the powers that be that I’ve got stock loss because of a seagull — they think it’s a joke,” the store manager Stuart Harmer told the BBC. And indeed, there has been a significant loss of inventory. According to Harmer, the bird has stolen around 30 bags of ships in the last two months alone. “[The seagull] comes in the shop when the doors open, puts his head around the corner of the door, nicks a packet of chips, and flies off with it,” said Harmer. After making off with his prize, Steven Seagull will place the chip bag on the ground and rip it open with his beak. He’ll then feast on its contents and he even allows other birds to have their fill, too.
At least he’s got a little bit of a Robin Hood thing going on. Harmer said that Steven is particularly fond of beef barbecue-flavored chips. The bird is smart enough to have learned what kind of bag its favorite chips come in and can seek them out. Harmer noticed that when he tried deterring the bird by swapping the most easily reachable chip bags with spicy flavors. The seagull ignored them and went straight for the barbecue ones. There’s a sign outside encouraging customers to shut the store’s door, but it doesn’t do much good. “If the door’s shut then he will bang his beak on the door to open it,” said Harmer.
To find the second thieving seagull, we must travel to northern Wales. Here we find Bangor, the oldest Welsh city located by the Isle of Anglesey, and the Late Stop 24 store, owned by Bipin Chawla. Much like Harmer, Chawla is dealing with a nuisance bird — whom he, too, has named Steven Seagull. This seagull isn’t as much of a career criminal as its southern counterpart. It seems the bird has turned to a life of crime relatively recently. “In the early hours of the morning, we tend to get a lot of seagulls outside the store,” Chawla explained to the BBC. “We had croissants by the front door, and it was coming in every day, three or four times a week, and it was quite novel and we filmed it.” As winter rolled around, however, Steven Seagull disappeared. But just as Chawla thought the bird was gone for good, it came back. This time, however, it wasn’t hungry for food, but the latest news. The seagull stole the morning’s copy of The Cambrian News. “I think it was the most convenient thing it could pick up. It grabbed it quite efficiently,” said Chawla. “We are expecting him to come in again. I think all the staff have taken to him,” he said.
Seagull Sarcasm
Did you know the seagull was gods third attempt at creating the bird…
The A-gull and B-gull weren’t quite right.
What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?
Cliff.
Q: What do you call a bird with a black belt?
A: Steven Seagull.
Where do seagulls go to drink?
A sand bar.
August 22nd Birthdays
1956 – Debbie Boone, 1960 – Debbi Peterson, 1947 – Cindy Williams, 1974 – Kristen Wiig
1964 – Trey Gowdy, 1941 – Bil Parcells, 1939 – Norman Schwartzkopf, 1958 – Andrea Bocelli