Argentine province plans to shoot seagulls eating the flesh of surfacing southern right whales
Gruesome AP report:
Seagulls around the city of Puerto Madryn discovered about a decade ago that by pecking at the whales as they come up for air, they can create open wounds. Then, each time the whales surface, it’s dinner time: Gulls swoop down and dig in, cutting away skin and blubber with their beaks and claws.
The problem has only grown more severe since then as more gulls caught on and the bird population exploded due to easy access to human detritus — not only open-air garbage heaps but fish parts as well, dumped directly into the water by fishermen and a seafood packing plant.
There’s even a picture! Don’t worry, it’s pretty safe.
I mean, it’s clearly not safe in the sense that it shows a seagull in the process of devouring a whale and what the fuck, but there’s no visible wound and the bird’s beak looks like it’s just resting on the whale, so if you didn’t know the context you wouldn’t even know that some bad shit was about to go down.
