Locals outraged as tourist in Cornwall punches seagull to death for bizarre reason

A flock of seagulls now without one of theirs

According to locals, who were outraged by the scene, the man killed the innocent seagull after it snatched his pasty.

The incident which occurred in St Ives, Cornwall has led the police to urge anybody who has CCTV footage to come forward.

Images of the man who allegedly killed the seagull were shared online by the locals.

The man killed the bird in front of his family

A woman who was working at a boat tour stall when the man attacked the bird in front of her, revealed that he was walking with his family.

“'He was walking with his wife and child and the gull just swooped down and stole his pasty”, Rosie Reynolds said.

“He just grabbed it and had its head in his hand and punched it hard in the chest. It was sort of held in his arm so it couldn't escape.”

“After three or four punches the bird went limp then he threw it to the ground where it just lay there, it was still alive but its chest cavity was caved in and I think it just went off to die.:

“I went over and berated him as did some other people, I said "you can't do that, its illegal" and his wife said the same, I think she was shocked, I asked if he'd do the same to a child who stole an ice cream but he just called me a cow and told me to f*** off.”

The alleged bird killer was identified online as Jonathan ‘Jonny’ Roberts from Bradford, Yorkshire. He is reportedly a pro-Palestine advocate.

On Facebook, another witness, Pauly Ford, wrote: “Just witnessed a ‘man’ grab a seagull that had knocked the pasty out of his hand and punched the bird twice really, really hard. This was at the harbour.”

“The bird wasn't able to fly away and a lady at the sea island boat trips picked it up to look after, sadly the bird had a big hole in its chest so will likely not survive.”

“Not sure what to do about this, we have a picture of the guy after killing a seagull because he's an idiot is there anything we can do. Surely the police will want to know.”

The sentence that awaits offenders revealed

A spokesman from Devon and Cornwall Police said: “We are appealing for witnesses and footage following a report of a seagull being attacked in St Ives.”

“Devon & Cornwall Police received a third hand report about the incident which is said to have taken place on the seafront on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 June.”

“Despite posts being widely shared online, the matter was not reported to us by anyone present at the scene”, the spokesman added.

As herring gulls are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside act, offenders can face up to six months in prison, in addition to unlimited fines.