'Starving' seagulls baited to be hit by cars

Seagulls are being deliberately enticed into roads with food and then injured or killed by cars, according to a charity.

Caernarfon-based Foundation for Feathered Friends, (FFF) said the practice had increased over the past couple of years, with both adults and children spotted baiting the birds.

FFF founder Denise Theophilus, 71, said the charity had received reports of food being deliberately thrown into roads in locations along the north Wales coast, including Prestatyn, Abergele and Rhyl.

Gulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, like all wild birds, meaning it is illegal to intentionally kill or injure them.

Ms Theophilus, 71, started the group to "balance the hatred" she had seen for gulls when she moved to north Wales.

They are also considered a conservation concern with the six main gull species found in the UK, particularly herring gulls, in decline.

"I don't want gulls thinking all humans are like this," she added.

Ms Theophilus said gulls were starving at this time of year and trying to feed their chicks, so would look for food wherever they can find it.

"I have lost track of all the messages that come in," she said.

"I was told about kids throwing food for gulls in Rhyl and watching as the cars nearly hit them.

"Children grow up thinking gulls are winged rats and it's OK to do whatever to them."

She added that a volunteer had picked up a bird in Prestatyn on Sunday after a man had thrown food out of his vehicle and it was hit by a car when it flew down to get it.

Five of the charity's volunteers have small pens and aviaries at their homes where injured and sick birds can be cared for, but Ms Theophilus said some birds could not recover enough to be released back into the wild.

She added that nothing was being done to enforce the law on the issue and the police were "not interested".

"It's really discouraging that no-one does anything," she said.

North Wales Police has been asked to comment.