Video of woman stuffing seagull into bag is missing context

A video of a woman apparently grabbing a seagull and stuffing it in a small bag near Tower Bridge in London has been played more than 400,000 times on Facebook. 

The caption on the Facebook reel, posted on 27 March, says: “Attention ! [sic] This happened today on Tower Brigde [sic]. Please share, this needs to STOP!” 

As the post doesn’t make an explicit claim about what is happening in the clip, this has led to a number of social media users commenting about the current cost of living crisis—suggesting that the bird was caught for food. 

But this video isn’t new, and it doesn’t show a seagull being caught by someone intending to eat it, or otherwise harm it. 

It actually shows trained volunteers catching and marking the bird for research purposes. 

We’ve written about this video before, when it was claimed that “immigrants” were catching seagulls to “probably feast on”. 

In December 2022, broadcaster Jeremy Vine shared the video (without this caption), asking what was happening in the clip. 

In response, the British Trust for Ornithology (the study of birds) said: “This is all legitimate and it's acceptable for trained, licensed volunteers to catch some species of bird by hand, which are marked and released as quickly as possible. The data generated provides useful information on bird movements and survival.”

They added: “We do ask bird ringers operating in public places to ensure that members of the public are fully informed about what is taking place, though.” 

The organisation’s website explains that the practice of bird ringing “generates information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds, helping us to understand why populations are changing.”

It is illegal to intentionally kill or injure a gull in the UK, as they have protected status, though councils are able to issue special licenses to destroy the birds or their nests where they cause a risk to public health and safety.  

Image courtesy of Peter F. Wolf