Seagulls; when you think of them, you probably think of those loud squawking white and gray birds that you see near beaches and other water sources, but there was one case in England where a seagull could have been seen in a color you just wouldn’t have expected: orange.
Of course, it wasn’t a natural occurrence that caused this, instead the bird was just hanging out in the alley of a food factory Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. It turns out that the bird found itself a tasty treat inside of a vat of chicken tikka masala that was sitting outside of the food factory, and in the middle of munching on it, the bird actually fell into the vat.
The end result was that the curry had actually died its feathers orange around the seagull’s body, giving it this weird bright appearance you wouldn’t see anywhere else in the world.
Image Credit: Vale wildlife hospital/PA
You can bet that unlike most, this seagull probably smelled good after the accident.
Nearby, Vale Wildlife Hospital received a phone call about the orange bird and they immediately came down the road to give the bird a hand. They scrubbed it down real good with some soap and got most of the color out of the bird’s feathers.
“I’ve been a veterinary nurse for 25 years and I have never seen this happen before," said Lucy Kells from the Vale Wildlife Hospital. ““He cleaned up surprisingly well at the hospital, we used washing-up liquid a few times.”
Regarding the health of the bird, it seems he’s fine, but he’s a bit on the skinny side. The hospital is currently tending to the patient bird by feeding it bits of dog and cat food, as well as some bits of fish that the hospital had in storage.
“He is a bit skinny so we are building his strength up a bit,” Kells continued. “I guess that’s why he was trying to get a piece of meat from the vat and fell in.”
The bird hasn’t been re-released into the wild just yet. It will soon reportedly be sent over to an aviary where the bird’s feathers will get a much-needed waterproofing treatment, and then it will be able to fly in the wild winds once again.
Source: The Guardian