Vets learn rescued ‘exotic’ bird is actually a seagull covered in curry

When a wildlife hospital in the UK received a call about an orange bird on the side of the road, they had no idea what to expect.

Was it a rare bird? Was it someone’s exotic pet?

Nope. It turned out it was just a hungry seagull that got himself into a little predicament.

“This is one of the strangest casualty circumstances we have seen in a while!” Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital wrote on Facebook.

Good Samaritans brought the brightly-colored bird into the hospital for help. When the bird arrived, staff were shocked and confused, but the smell coming from the bird hinted at the real reason they had a flightless orange bird on their hands.

They guessed the bird was somehow covered in curry or turmeric–in 2016 a seagull got itself covered in curry when it fell into a waste vat of chicken tikka masala.

Since the mysterious orange powder was all over the herring gull, it prevented the bird from flying.

The hospital staff were unsure how the seagull became covered, but were thankful that was its only issue.

“Our veterinary team bravely bathed the gull (now named Vinny after a Vindaloo curry) to clean off his feathers,” they wrote. “He managed to cover them in curry water, but eventually did let us scrub him clean.”

Now that Vinny is free of the orange powder, he will be kept for a brief time before being released back into the wild.

What a sight!

I’m glad the bird was able to be cleaned up and appears to have suffered no harm.

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