Police have launched an appeal after a man allegedly attacked a seagull in St Ives, Cornwall, after the bird snatched his food, leaving onlookers horrified.
Incident Details
The suspect, who was with his family, reportedly punched the bird and slammed it against a wall after it stole his Cornish pasty on Wednesday, June 10. Angry locals shared photos of the man online and claimed the bird was attacked in retaliation for the food theft.
Rosie Reynolds, working at a boat tour stall, witnessed the incident. She told the Daily Mail: “He was walking with his wife and child and the gull just swooped down and stole his pasty. He just grabbed it and had its head in his hand and punched it hard in the chest. It was sort of held in his arm so it couldn't escape.”
She added: “After three or four punches the bird went limp then he threw it to the ground where it just lay there, it was still alive but its chest cavity was caved in and I think it just went off to die. I went over and berated him as did some other people, I said ‘you can't do that, it's illegal’ and his wife said the same, I think she was shocked, I asked if he'd do the same to a child who stole an ice cream but he just called me a cow and told me to f*** off.”
Reynolds continued: “I'm just so shocked, tourists sometimes kick out at the seagulls but this is the worst I've ever seen. I recognised his picture straight away on Facebook, I know several people have reported him to police and I hope they can deal with him properly.”
Witness Accounts
A takeaway owner, who did not want to be named, said he served the man shortly beforehand. He reportedly claimed the bird actually grabbed a fish burger. He said: “I just remember the guy was really rude, his wife seemed lovely but he was just demanding and said he needed to drive back to Yorkshire as soon as he could.”
Another witness, Pauly Ford, wrote on Facebook: “Just witnessed a 'man' grab a seagull that had knocked the pasty out of his hand and punched the bird twice really, really hard. This was at the harbour. The bird wasn't able to fly away and a lady at the sea island boat trips picked it up to look after, sadly the bird had a big hole in its chest so will likely not survive. Not sure what to do about this, we have a picture of the guy after killing a seagull because he's an idiot is there anything we can do. Surely the police will want to know.”
Suspect Identified
The man was allegedly identified online as Jonathan 'Jonny' Roberts from Bradford, Yorkshire. In a Facebook post featuring several pictures of Roberts walking through the town, a witness alleged: “This man grabbed a seagull out the air and punched it to death then booted it. Happened in a busy street by the harbour in front of about 30 people including children. My two-year-old is scarred. Absolutely disgusting to see.”
Police Appeal
Devon and Cornwall Police are now appealing for information about the reported incident. A police spokesperson said: “We are appealing for witnesses and footage following a report of a seagull being attacked in St Ives. Devon & Cornwall Police received a third hand report about the incident which is said to have taken place on the seafront on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 June. Social media posts stated that a man punched and beat a seagull. Despite posts being widely shared online, the matter was not reported to us by anyone present at the scene.”
