Seagulls are renowned for their cheeky nature, with the feathered fiends loving nothing more than creating absolute mayhem for those who dare enter their sandy realm.
From pinching a sly beakful of salty chips to expertly dropping poop on your sun lounger from 20ft in the air, seagulls are the chaotic force which controls how much fun you actually end up having at the seaside.
Now new photos have emerged that prove once and for all that seagulls give zero hecks whatsoever; any social niceties long since tossed out to sea.
When planning her visit to the Children’s Pool in La Jolla, California, on Tuesday, February 18, conservation wildlife photographer Jennifer Leigh had hoped to snap some adorable newborn seal pups.
However, the pics she ended up with turned out to be a little more x-rated after a pair of brazen gulls began warring over a particularly rude piece of treasure.
The two juvenile gulls were fighting over a dildo, tossing it around and chasing each other. One of the birds eventually emerged victorious, swooping off into the sky with the phallic find.
Jennifer told Gizmodo:
Before realising what the object was, I was annoyed and mad, because plastic pollution is a real serious problem, and as a conservation photographer I’m documenting human impacts on wildlife.
But when I realised what it was, while the other emotions still existed, you can’t help but find humour in it.
Jennifer works with conservation organisations such as the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Shoot’em with a Camera.
Although the dildo altercation gave Jennifer a hearty chuckle, this has also helped to raise some much needed awareness of the grave issue of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
According to statistics reported in 2018 by Greenpeace USA, up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans each year. It’s estimated that there are five trillion pieces of plastic in the oceans, enough to encircle the Earth more than 400 times.
As many as nine out of 10 seabirds, one in three sea turtles and over half of whale and dolphin species have ingested plastic. Over in the Canadian Arctic, it’s thought 87% of birds have ingested some sort of plastic.
So. Maybe just pop your dildo back in your bag rather than flinging it out into the ocean next time you’re having some fun at the beach…
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.