# Where Can I Get a Seagull? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958 "2004-02-24T20:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/1 "2004-02-24T20:00:52Z")
I always wanted one for a pet. Delightful slap-slap feet. And I’ve already owned a duck. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/2 "2004-02-24T20:06:18Z")
You do NOT want one as a pet. And they do not want to be pets. They’re agressive, violent, long-ranging, messy, ugly things. Take as many as you want from my garden. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/3 "2004-02-24T20:11:31Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > You do NOT want one as a pet. And they do not want to be pets. They’re agressive, violent, long-ranging, messy, ugly things. Take as many as you want from my garden. Hmmmmmmmm… If you find any eggs or babies, and you’re within driving distance, you’re on! ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/4 "2004-02-24T20:11:59Z")
I am by no means an expert as sea gulls are concerned, but from numerous trips to the seaside I remember that their lifestyle is very flight-centric. So either you have an miserable gull in a cage or one that might or might not come back. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/5 "2004-02-24T20:23:56Z")
There may also be regulations prohibiting “waterfowl” as pets. I think it varies by juristiction. And they really are soaring birds and would not be happy with clipped wings. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/6 "2004-02-24T20:41:08Z")
try any garbage heap, dump or dumpster out here in Utah. BUT don’t let the “authorities” know, Seagulls are Utah’s state bird and Mormons can be kinda touchy about messing with them.The seagull is a piece of LDS mythology that continues to plague us today. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/7 "2004-02-24T21:29:54Z")
You better talk to your local Fish & Game people because I’m pretty sure that owning a seagull would be quite illegal. When I recently caught one with a broken wing, I was advised just to re-release it (by Fish & Wildlife) as none of the wildlife rehab places were allowed to treat them. Besides, where would you keep it? Get yourself a loaf of bread and head to the nearest park for your seagull fix. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/8 "2004-02-24T22:40:54Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > Where Can I Get a Seagull? \*\*Step 1: \*\* Come to within fifty miles of my hometown. \*\*Step 2: \*\* Drop a french fry on the ground. We don’t call 'em sky rats for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/9 "2004-02-24T22:46:38Z")
Exchange homes with me and lean out of the window, first having put some bread on the window ledge. Ah, glad to see someone else got the “flying vermin” idea mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/10 "2004-02-24T22:53:24Z")
OOps - just after I hit “sumbi”, I remembered somthing to make **inkleberry** envious. Envious, that is, only if you _like_ hearing odd thumps from the kitchen, yet knowing there is NO WAY anyone else should be in my flat. Timidly go to kitchen only to find my very own seagull. In my case, I asked it to to go uut and meet the sky and sea and all its seagull friends again, but it would have been a great chance for **inkleberry** , and I BET the keeping of seagulls as pets was not specifically prohibited in my lease! 🙂 GRRRRRR - just thought - that was also a chance to have said “what 's a nice gull like you doing in a place like this?” Bah! - _L’esprit d’escalier_ ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/11 "2004-02-25T00:13:56Z")
Seagulls are mean, vicious, and way too clever when it comes to stealing food. I’ve witnessed a seagull snatching a morsel of food off of a fork as it was being raised from plate to mouth. And once it’s discovered that you have FOOD, you get surrounded by the entire flock – more like something out of Hitchcock’s _The Birds_ than _Finding Nemo_. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/12 "2004-02-25T00:22:52Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > \*\*Step 1: \*\* Come to within fifty miles of my hometown. > \*\*Step 2: \*\* Drop a french fry on the ground. > > We don’t call 'em sky rats for nothing. \*\*Step 1: \*\* Come to within fifty miles of _my_ hometown. No step 2. I frackin hate the bastards, circling above like vultures, ready to shit at a moment’s notice. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/13 "2004-02-25T00:31:34Z")
Albatross! … ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/14 "2004-02-25T01:07:19Z")
"When Dreyfus was imprisoned on Devil’s Island, he would look out of his cell and see…the most glorious birds…after he was released he discovered… they were only seagulls… To me they will always be…glorious birds…" Maude To which I concur. But rather more glorious at a distance. Doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Not as a pet. I feel Maude would also be opposed. P.S. Any New Yorker will tell you _pigeons_ are the flying rats, not seagulls. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/15 "2004-02-25T01:16:25Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Albatross! > > … I’ll bat, ross. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/16 "2004-02-25T01:34:06Z")
A little aside: Seagulls will swallow peanuts whole, shells and all. I found this out while trying to feed the squirrels. By the way, it is definitely against the law to keep wild critters as pets, including seagulls. I have no cite at this time but it is true. Ortherwise, I’d get me a crow or two. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/17 "2004-02-25T17:05:51Z")
> [@Krisfer the Cat](#): > > try any garbage heap, dump or dumpster out here in Utah. > > BUT don’t let the “authorities” know, Seagulls are Utah’s state bird and Mormons can be kinda touchy about messing with them.The seagull is a piece of LDS mythology that continues to plague us today. A garbage-eating, giant-splat-pooping bird is this important? Geez, of all the pretty and/or majectic birds, not a good choice. FYI: not even seagulls will eat “Andy Capp Hot Fries”. ---
**Author:** ![Peach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@Peach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peach)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/18 "2004-02-25T23:06:23Z")
I like to fake throwing food at them. Tricks 'em everytime! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/19 "2004-02-26T04:22:37Z")
They also seem to enjoy hanging out at Walmart. I’m not kidding. I live about 300 miles from the nearest ocean and I see at least one seagull in the parking lot of Walmart every time I go. Must be the low, low prices. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958/20 "2004-02-26T05:27:30Z")
I’ve, in the past, had two seagulls in my home while they were on the mend. The first had a fishhook in his wing which I removed for him. He thanked me by biting my hand and arm many times -until I taped his beak shut. It took him only a few days to recover and away he flew. The second was a younger bird (less then a year) who got hit by a car and ended with a broken wing. He was a nasty bugger that was only interested in pecking out my eyes and shitting on my shoes. Sadly, Shithead (named after Steve Martins dog in “the jerk”) only lived a few more days before flying off to the giant landfill in the sky. I find them to be a rather handsome animal. I’m quite fond of seagulls and enjoy feeding them and watching them do their thing at the beach. They are very clever and gifted when it comes to getting themselves food. While I don’t think they are “rats of the air”, they do however tend to be, quite frankly, bastards. When it comes to wild animals, look at what others are keeping as pets. I think people don’t keep seagulls for a reason. I tend to think even if you got one as a chick it woukld grow up to be a bastard just like his mum and dad. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-a-seagull/230958.md?page=2)