A Bridlington animal park is causing quite a stir after training two herring gull chicks to become star performers in their birds of prey show.
Appropriately named Orville and Wilbur are six week old fledglings, and were hatched at the Birds of Prey and Animal Park centre after owner Paul Woodward helped rehabilitate their parents earlier in the year. Gulls are notoriously hard to train, but the two feathered friends have taken to stardom like a seabird to water. ”
Gulls are always getting bad press, but realistically if it wasn’t for humans throwing food they would stay in their natural habitat and hunt for fish.”said Paul. “You always see people feeding gulls when they go to the seaside, and that has led them to become dependent on humans. There are stories every year of people being attacked and dive-bombed, but it happens because of the ease of getting food from the land rather than at sea.” “Straight after they had hatched they adopted
Richelle Parkes, who is the head keeper at the park. They just followed her around from a few days old when they were on their tiptoes. We don’t keep any birds to a tether, and that includes the gulls…..they could just fly away when they are old enough.” Richelle walks through the show arena with the birds following in line. After sitting down they jump on her knee for a titbit, then run round her a couple of more times for another titbit. They even hop on to a seaside bucket and spade set and have been know to pull the plastic spade out of the bucket and tap it for more treats. John, who served in the Army for 23 years, used to volunteer at the Carnaby based park, but the opportunity came up to buy the visitor attraction two years ago….and the rest, as they say, is history.
Added John: “The park is a not-for-profit organisation, so after running costs and expenses everything goes back into the conservation of our birds and animals. The gulls have now become celebrities, and have a great following on the internet.”
