AIBU to wonder if a seagull could really steal a chihuahua????

[CrocodilesCry]

So people are saying on social media that the chihuahua "plucked" from a garden down south wasn't actually taken by a seagull at all.

Searches have been called off. I've read people saying that the dog had actually been sold and this was a worst ever cover story

So what does everyone think really happened? Could a seagull take a 2kg dog?

PS, I did look for other posts about this and couldn't find any. Apols if this is a TAAT or anything's been deleted for any reason.

not convinced your average bloke would correctly identify the bird that flew down and stole a dog. As in, maybe it wasn't a gull, but something similar.

Yeah, like his mate who he sold it to.

A seagull flew down behind me and pinched my whole cornish pasty (large) out of my bloody hand and flew off down the beach with it!!!! I'm totally convinced it could have picked up a small dog!! My pasty was bloody heavy!

My pasty was bloody heavy!

Probably didn't have teeth though 🤔

I'm not saying they did but it took it out of my hand as sweet as a nut and carried it away

Seagulls do have clws as well as webbed feet, so it is possible they could pick a small dog up

claws

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theargus.co.uk/news/17827705.amp/
Warning: noisy video

If the dog was a puppy it would’ve been less than 2kg. My chihuahua was 800g when I got him at 10 weeks.

And I read they found the chihuahuas leg on a roof a few days later.

Only it wasn't the dog's leg it was a rabbit's.

If the news article is correct the owners stated it was two kilos, and a female herring gull would be half that. And its still considerably more (as in at least 25%of its body weight) more than the biggest male.

If owners are incorrect in the bird they identified and its somehow a black backed, even if it was the biggest black backed (greater)and male then they are still less than two kilos

Gulls are much lighter than they look weirdly.

I think this story has really hit home because we have all had a traumatic gull related experience!

I live next to the sea and have witnessed seagulls picking up small animals. Black winged gulls are very big.

According to news reports the dog was also 4 years old so not a puppy.

Ok well a rabbit weighs around the same as a chihuahua, depending on breed or size.

Trust me, as someone who owns and breeds chihuahuas and lives about 200m from the beach so sees huge seagulls every day, it’s it totally, totally possible.

evilharpy

I have seen a seagull steal an entire kebab from someone’s hand in St Ives. A chihuahua is about the size of a kebab isn’t it?

😂😂

Im not arguing that a seagull (of whatever kind) couldnt kill a chi, i think they could. I also think in some exception circumstance its not inconceivable that one could carry a dead one or weak one

People are right in that they can carry food etc. We've all seen it

I dont believe that it can pick up in one swoop with webbed feet (whilst the man was shouting and trying to grab it) something that weighs more than its self, is presumably running barking and biting without dropping it repeatedly.

Their beaks arent built to carry moving objects like that and especially that heavy. If you think of birds that hunt they have totally different anatomy to help grasp prey. A seagull would be totally unable to scruff it in any way unlike those birds. So it would literally just have a beak full of dog.

Given enough time they could problem solve, but in one drive by attack attempt? And to carry the dog so far off into the distance that no one has seen anything of it?

I work with gulls, and its just all so unlikely. Personally i think most elements of it could be true but the reports have added bits (eg the guy attempting to grab it, the dog not being unsupervised in the garden for some time) etc that dont fit.

Dont get me wrong gulls are big, bold and clever. I understand people hate them stealing stuff and are scared of them. However they weigh less than people think.

I dont think we will ever know to be honest, i think the rabbit leg story will stick in peoples minds

Those articles were posted three weeks ago and I was wondering why there didn’t seem to be any newer info on the story....

After a bit of googling and searching on Twitter it turns out a ‘missing dogs’ Facebook page shared the woman’s phone number on a post about the chihuahua and people jumped on it and started to send her a lot of not very nice messages so as a result she’s basically refused to talk to anyone and asked news papers and social media to stop posting about it.
So it doesn’t look like we will get a conclusion
or confirmation it was really the boyfriend who did it

This thread has had me in hysterics though.

Yeah, it pops up a fair amount at the rescue i volunteer in. We've had a couple of calls about gull proofing gardens etc, and i think its just one of those stories that sticks with people and brings out traumatic seaside memories!

It would be nice to be able to reassure people either way