A crafty shoplifting seagull has been banned from a store after running off with numerous bags of crisps.
Staff at Central shop in Weymouth, Dorset estimate the bird, nicknamed Steven Seagull, has snatched around two boxes worth of crisps in the past few weeks.
The brazen thief sneaks in when the door is open, nabs a packet, runs back outside, shakes it open, then shares the snack with his seagull friends.
The shop has even resorted to leaving Flamin’ Hot Walkers in his favourite spot, hoping the spice will put him off returning.
Sadly this proved fruitless as Steven very much enjoyed the spicy crisps, devouring the whole packet.
Shop supervisor Sally Toogood said: ‘He has been quite a pest. We thought we would need footage and to put a sign up to make people believe it.
‘He hangs around outside, waits for any opportunity to come in and grab a packet of crisps.
‘He takes it off the shelf, shakes it open and all of his mates come down as well. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the spicy crisps.
She added: ‘The door sometimes gets left open, I used to open it whenever I mopped the floor and I would see that he had been in.’
Sally said his crisp stealing was quite amusing at first but he’s now taken so many bags it’s become ‘a bit of a problem’.
The team have now put up a poster asking people to shut the door behind them to help keep their ‘resident shoplifter’ out.
Below the plea is an illustration of Steven looking rather pleased with himself.
Steven isn’t the first seagull to be banned from a shop. Last year a fellow gul named Sid was also barred, this time from Arkwhite’s Best Before store in Hastings, East Sussex.
He had been caught stealing both crisps and sweets from the shop
But it’s not just salty snacks and sweet treats the greedy gulls are after – some appear to have taken their criminal antics to another level.
There were a number of reports last year of the bids swooping down to make off with people’s drugs, in particular a group of synthetic cannabinoids known as ‘spice’.
Spice use in humans can cause euphoria, talkativeness, paranoia, nausea and mood swings.
But, not so surprisingly, there’s been very little research into the synthetic narcotics’ effects on seagulls.
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