{"id":667764,"date":"2026-07-01T10:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/667764\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:31:15","slug":"seagull-spotted-hopping-around-weymouth-beach-with-crossbow-belt-embedded-in-chest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/667764\/","title":{"rendered":"Seagull spotted hopping around Weymouth beach with crossbow belt embedded in chest"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A seagull has been discovered with a crossbow bolt impaled in its body following a \u201ccruel\u201d and \u201csick\u201d attack. <\/p>\n

The bird was spotted on Monday evening at Weymouth Beach in Dorset, with the potentially lethal object protruding from its chest.<\/p>\n

The gull seemed unfazed by its predicament and flew off when worried members of the public tried to catch it.<\/p>\n

Seagulls are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, making it an offence to intentionally injure or kill any gull<\/a>, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents. <\/p>\n

If found guilty, people can face an unlimited fine or up to six months in prison.<\/p>\n

Ellie Hooper said that she noticed the gull after having dinner on the beach.<\/p>\n

\"AA seagull has been seen with a crossbow bolt embedded in its body (EllieHooper\/BNPS)<\/p>\n

“As we were leaving I saw it sat on a bin by itself and noticed something was sticking out of it. It looked like a crossbow bolt,\u201d the 23-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“There was no blood around it, it didn’t look like a fresh injury.<\/p>\n

“I’m a crazy vegan so immediately I was like ‘how do I help this poor animal?’ I can’t really believe somebody would actually do that.<\/p>\n

“We googled some local rescues but none were open because it was 9pm. I was trying to phone people that might have any knowledge about what to do.<\/p>\n

“The gull seemed quite tame. We sort of followed him around the beach for a bit, trying to catch him but then he flew off.”<\/p>\n

The seagull has been seen by multiple people, with some reporting they believe it is the same one they spotted with an identical injury last August.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe gull was spotted at Weymouth Beach in Dorset (EllieHooper\/BNPS)<\/p>\n

Animals in Need, an animal charity in Weymouth, tried to catch the bird last summer but were unable to.<\/p>\n

People on social media have dubbed the hardy bird Steven, after action movie star Steven Seagal, and slammed the cruel attack.<\/p>\n

Gaynor McGowan said: “It really concerned me last summer when I saw him. It was so sad to see that someone had apparently shot the poor thing with some kind of weapon.<\/p>\n

“Some people can be so cruel. I’m just glad to see he seems to have recovered so well.”<\/p>\n

Fred Bourke said: “I’m not a fan of seagulls but no animal deserves that.”<\/p>\n

Shirley Longstaff added: “What’s the matter with sick people doing this? Beyond cruel.”<\/p>\n

Jessie Gore said: “This is so unbelievably sad that anyone could do this to any animal. I know people don’t like gulls but there is never a need for such cruelty.”<\/p>\n

Chris Reeves said: “That’s a bloody hard gull. Steer well clear and call him ‘sir’. If he asks, give him your chips, all of them!”<\/p>\n

There have been manhunts launched for attacks on gulls<\/a> in the past. In 2022 police were hunting for a man who attacked a seagull with a cricket bat at Lyme Regis.<\/p>\n

Last summer the RSPCA launched a campaign calling on the public to be kind to seagulls and said they are one of the most victimised and misunderstood wild bird species.<\/p>\n

Geoff Edmond, the RSPCA’s wildlife partnership manager, said: “Gulls are brilliant birds. They form lifelong bonds with their partners, they are attentive parents, they are intelligent, and are great at solving problems.<\/p>\n

“Yet they are one of the most persecuted wild birds in this country.<\/p>\n

“We receive a report about deliberate or extreme cruelty to a gull every three days.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-667764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}