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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

267 replies

CrocodilesCry · 26/07/2019 15:38

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 Shock

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
BarbaraofSeville · 27/07/2019 09:18

Seagulls at my nearest coast look pretty healthy and well fed.

Also that they know that where there are humans there are chips and ice cream and people used to think it was a fun game to feed these to seagulls.

Now they've come to expect it and people are asked not to, they've started to take what they can get by force.

HugsAreMyDrugs · 27/07/2019 09:20

So did the dog just run away then? Confused

RiddleyW · 27/07/2019 09:24

I don’t know if they’ve got worse, quite possibly. They’ve always been twats though, one took a whole ice cream from me in my buggy in 1981!

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 27/07/2019 09:32

I think it's just that there are more of them.
Maybe we should go back to sending our dses down the cliffs on ropes to steal their eggs Wink

LegallyBronde · 27/07/2019 09:59

The expert was ornithologist Peter Rock from the university of Bristol. And he said "The gulls are quite large and are more than capable of picking up a small animal" Shock

LegallyBronde · 27/07/2019 09:59

Glad the dog is ok though!

PancakeAndKeith · 27/07/2019 10:05

Glad the dog is ok though!
But it isn’t. It’s not been found.

heronontoast · 27/07/2019 10:52

'I think it's just that there are more of them.'

All UK gulls are declining - there's an article on the BBC site today that explains that we see more gulls because they are moving inland. Herring gulls are on the UK red list apparently.

MrsExpo · 27/07/2019 11:09

I've seen a gull lifting a large rabbit with ease and flying way with it in its beak, so a small dog would be quite feasible. Definitely possible I'd say. Poor doggy ....

FurnitureAndBackgammon · 27/07/2019 11:21

Glad the dog is ok though!
But it isn’t. It’s not been found

Only in Psychic Sally's imagination 😆

Original poster
CrocodilesCry · 27/07/2019 19:46

So the BBC have just shared this story again on their Facebook page, five days after originally publishing it.

It makes me wonder if there is an update coming about what really happened to the dog...

OP posts:
annielouise · 27/07/2019 20:01

I live on a street where seagulls nest. Couple of years ago I saw one swoop down to try and get a neighbour's cat. The cat is not a kitten but small. It was inches away. The cat flattened itself on the floor. Whether that stopped the seagull or it thought better of it as the cat was too big, I don't know but I do believe it was trying to get it so I can believe one might try with a chihuahua. They swoop on the humans here if there's a baby nearby but it's more of a warning and not too close, not as close as it got to the cat.

Caucho · 27/07/2019 20:04

I didn’t and probably still don’t believe it because of the person telling it - FB pout selfie and animal cartoon add ons. Seems a bit of an attention seeker. I suppose I should trust the experts if they say it’s possible but didn’t think they had the ability to grab and pick stuff up like Birds of Prey. So l have learned something new in that I know it’s possible without negating the story is probably horseshit

pigsDOfly · 27/07/2019 22:31

Don't most birds of prey pick things up in their talons?

Could a gull really carry off a struggling animal in its beak?

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 27/07/2019 22:37

'Could a gull really carry off a struggling animal in its beak?'

They carry off struggling fish in their beaks!

pigsDOfly · 27/07/2019 22:45

That's not the same thing TheCountess. Their beaks are designed to catch fish, their whole lives revolve around swooping down into water and catching live fish in their beaks.

Their beaks are not designed to whip fury animals out of peoples back gardens and carry them off.

Big difference between swallowing a live fish and lifting a live dog into the air.

LatteLove · 27/07/2019 22:47

I saw a seagull swipe a whole fish supper once and saw another pick up and take away another (live) bird :( both smaller than a chihuahua i guess but they are bloody fuckers!

8misskitty8 · 28/07/2019 00:01

A woman living 6 miles away from were the dog was taken by the seagull has allegedly found a leg bone were seagulls are nesting. Saw it on a news website. It may possibly belong to the chihuahua it’s been reported.

8misskitty8 · 28/07/2019 00:05

Hopefully link works.

skybluee · 28/07/2019 02:13

I was about to post that. The picture is really sad. It does look like a dog's leg :(.

I believe it's possible, especially if experts are saying the gulls could do it. They may not have carried the dog far, maybe carried it a few metres, dropped it and it died, then ate it, I don't know.

donutrehomer · 28/07/2019 03:07

I visited Plymouth a few times last year.

The seagulls/ herring gulls were enormous. In the shopping centre there were a couple of huge ones not letting customers into the House Of Fraser. Two police officers were escorting them out of the doorway.

Dd1 was at Plymouth uni, a large seagull lived on her balcony. It lived on stolen kebabs and chips.

RiddleyW · 28/07/2019 05:22

Could easily be a fox leg - I mean we’re unlikely to know I suppose.

Oysterbabe · 28/07/2019 05:44

Do you remember that story of an Eagle trying to take a child?

FatThor · 28/07/2019 05:49

That video is terrifying 😱