Shoplifing Seagull

[SportsterRider]

Got this yesterday from a friend...

I love how he walks in casually ...

then, speeds up on his 'getaway'

A seagull in Scotland has developed the habit of stealing chips from a neighborhood shop. The seagull waits until the shopkeeper isn't looking, and then walks into the store and grabs a snack-size bag of cheese Doritos.

Once outside, the bag gets ripped open and shared by other birds.

The seagull's shoplifting started early this month when he first swooped into the store in Aberdeen, Scotland, and helped himself to a bag of chips. Since then, he's become a regular. He always takes the same type of chips.

Customers have begun paying for the seagull's stolen bags of chips because they think it's so funny.

[docblackrock]

Somewhat old (July) but still one of the few bright moments in an otherwise wet and depressing British summer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6907994.stm

[Dee1]

funny.

[ryyannon]

What great publicity for Cheese Doritos!

It's easy to imagine a very funny and endearing ad campaign built around this guy - I wonder if Frito-Lay will have the cojones to commission one?

Nah, it will have to be a committee decision, so no way.

That is one funny vid: if you look closely, you can see him turn his head to the right to see if the store guy is around...

[Victoria]

What great publicity for Cheese Doritos!

I've never had Cheese Doritos. Does that make me a birdbrain? Don't answer that!

This story reminds me of the recent death of that African Grey parrot, Alex, who allegedly had the IQ of a 5 year-old child, which included knowing colours and differentiating shapes; he learned more than 100 English words; and had a series of one-liners he delivered to his captive audience.

Sounds like Gilbert Godfrey...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/science/...?pagewanted=all

Not sure if I read this here, or when surfing the net, but the research scientists who had taught him all he knew were devastated.

I say we all club together, and buy them a ticket to Aberdeen.

[ryyannon]

I've seen some amazing film documentaries about Alex - a very clever bird - who would discuss what he wanted for dinner, whether he was even hungry or not, and anything else that happened to be on his mind....

In terms of sheer communicativity, a cut above many of my own university students.

[Victoria]

I've seen some amazing film documentaries about Alex - a very endearing bird - who would discuss what he wanted for dinner,

Ryyannon -- nature show addict?

whether he was even hungry or not

An American parrot then.

and anything else that happened to be on his mind....

Fantastic. The trait of wanting to share unimportant thoughts with people is very human.

In terms of sheer communicativity, a cut above many of my own university students.

I suggest you visualise a classroom full of parrots. Then if someone steals your Doritos, you'll be happily surprised.

[ryyannon]

Not a nature show addict at all - although I'll watch just about anything at four in the morning....

The films on Alex were on ARTE, the French/German equivalent of PBS - as was a three-part series on the intelligence of birds in general.

There's one (threatened) species of Jay that is able to understand that its reflection in a mirror is indeed a reflection of itself - a feat shared only with one species of primates (monkeys).

My own House Pigeon regularly climbs onto my shoulder at night to see what the hell I'm doing on the laptop - and then walks down my arm and onto the keyboard to get a better look at all the dancing letters and animated smileys.

Birds are a real trip - just when I've decided to get back with the program (ie, sanity) one of them pulls something that totally blows me out.

I do believe that if weren't for my obsession with the pigeons, I'd have checked out of this world long ago....

[docblackrock]

I do believe that if weren't for my obsession with the pigeons, I'd have checked out of this world long ago....

Well in that case, I'll doff my cap to the "rats with wings" and put aside my hatred for such a noble cause.

Incidentally Ry, I came across this article on the subject, small world indeed

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/01/30/blume_ed3__1.php

[ryyannon]

Interesting read: I myself worked for the IHT some years ago - and lasted about six weeks before they booted me out.

It's still my prefered newspaper, however: I'm not one to carry a grudge.

As for contraceptive grain, it does work - and very well indeed - so well, in fact, that the nasty little pest-elimination lobbies have prevented it from being used.

Not feeding pigeons is no solution either: they keep breeding, and with their incredible abilities of survival, manage to hang on for years on a starvation diet. This makes for seriously unhappy pigeons -and perhaps even a few Mad Max-type individuals such as the one who ransaked your place.

The end result is a population that's neither totally dead nor totally alive: the 'flying rat' stereotype with a seriously-diminished immunity system.

For any sentient being - as we humans are wont to consider ourselves - the question comes down to whether we want to look the other way while a whole class of animals live totally miserable lives, or whether a population of well-fed and happy birds is not preferable to the more subtle psychic pollution caused by ignoring the slow and painful degenerescence of this same population.

And here, I could draw some (far-fetched, many would say) comparisons with the mechanisms which are used to marginalize human populations prior to definitively eliminating them, but that's a whole other line of reasoning and/or meditation.

Suffice to close with a cryptic, "As above, so below" - and vice-versa.

[Victoria]

Not a nature show addict at all - although I'll watch just about anything at four in the morning....

The films on Alex were on ARTE, the French/German equivalent of PBS - as was a three-part series on the intelligence of birds in general.

Sure, ARTE was my fave channel (as is PBS in the US). I also liked Canal Jimmy. Ooh! I just thought of a post idea for the RWG males! Hang on to yer beret!

There's one (threatened) species of Jay that is able to understand that its reflection in a mirror is indeed a reflection of itself - a feat shared only with one species of primates (monkeys).

That's something even babies are said not to know. I dispute this theory. I knew.

My own House Pigeon regularly climbs onto my shoulder at night to see what the hell I'm doing on the laptop - and then walks down my arm and onto the keyboard to get a better look at all the dancing letters and animated smileys.

Birds are a real trip - just when I've decided to get back with the program (ie, sanity) one of them pulls something that totally blows me out.

I do believe that if weren't for my obsession with the pigeons, I'd have checked out of this world long ago....

Ryyannon, darling...I don't like this Burt Lancaster view of the world. You and some pigeons, shaking your fists at the IHT deliveryman.

What you need is a pro-American, multilingual, well-travelled, well-read woman, who can talk about anything under the sun, including sports, philosophy, history, timepieces and sex, isn't aggressive about her views, but doesn't confuse moderation with lack of moral fibre.

Unfortunately, Angela Merkel isn't pretty.

[ryyannon]

The poor woman: I wonder if she ever was....

All of which makes me think of what I saw this afternoon sitting on the terrace of a caf

[Victoria]

And even though they see you, it's only because for them, you're not even there.

*though she is not part of this breed, Victoria gulped hard when reading this, thinking of all the times she's not acknowledged the existence of men paying her a compliment...*

Women are cruel, Ryyannon. Even intentionally unintentionally.

[ryyannon]

*though she is not part of this breed, Victoria gulped hard when reading this, thinking of all the times she's not acknowledged the existence of men paying her a compliment...*

Women are cruel, Ryyannon. Even intentionally unintentionally.

As can be guys.

But personally, I didn't feel snubbed, just fascinated - perhaps much in the same way that Darwin might have been on Easter Island.

Anyway, these girls were beyond snubbing: they were a phenomenon unto themselves, in the world but not of it; something separate, autonomous, detached.

Now that I see the scene again, I'm sure that they were observing everyone else in the same way as I was observing them: with a sense of wonder and fascination, but with no real desire to close the distance.

To do so would have been as likely as Queen Elizabeth entering a Pie Eating Contest: like her, and since their birth, their very identities and existence were predicated upon maintaining it.

[Victoria]

As can be guys.

But personally, I didn't feel snubbed, just fascinated - perhaps much in the same way that Darwin might have been on Easter Island.

Anyway, these girls were beyond snubbing: they were a phenomenon unto themselves, in the world but not of it; something separate, autonomous, detached.

Now that I see the scene again, I'm sure that they were observing everyone else in the same way as I was observing them: with a sense of wonder and fascination, but with no real desire to close the distance.

In the world of beauty, this is very common. They project etherealness, and that itself is part of the allure.

But, in my experience, it's also true of the world of intelligence (Universities). Or of rich people. Or of aristocracy. Of fashion. Or slim people. And indeed, of athletes.

They stick to their own. No. More than that.

THEY WANT to stick to their own -- actively seeking them out, in part to avoid the jealousy which comes from diversity. Meanwhile, the rest of the world misunderstands them, abuses them, although sometimes excuses them depending if they perceive "up by your bootstraps" effort, rather than the horrible crime of inheritance, as cause.

I understand this impulse completely.

It took you A LOT to arrive at the place you are. Even if you think they were born beautiful, maintaining that beauty is not easy. To have people around you who don't, is a downer.

It's one of those unspeakable human things that we simply cannot say out loud, because the moment people do, others who do not belong cry foul, perhaps justifiably.

This, of course, just makes these special people circle the wagons ever closer.

To do so would have been as likely as Queen Elizabeth entering a Pie Eating Contest: like her, and since their birth, their very identities and existence were predicated upon maintaining it.

You've never seen the Queen of Holland on a bike, have you?