Sam the Seagull turns chips shoplifter by Gulliver
A Scottish seagull has turned shoplifter and cheekily strolls
into a newsagents to help itself to packets of chips.
The bird, named Sam by locals, steals only its favorite cheese
Doritos chips and makes off outside with them to share them
with his feathered pals.
Sam has become so popular with locals that they have started
paying for his chips.
The bird made his first swoop on RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen
earlier this month and took his first 55p ($1.13) packet.
He is now a regular, wandering in through the shop door when
it's open and helping himself. Outside the bag is torn open
and the chips shared with other birds.
Shop worker Sriaram Nagarajan said: "Everyone is amazed.
For some reason he only takes that one particular kind of
chips."
"He waits until there are no customers around and I'm
standing behind the till, then he raids the place.
At first Mr. Nagarajan didn't believe a seagull was capable
of stealing chips. Having seen it with his own eyes he was
surprised how skilful a shoplifter Sam was.
"He's becoming a bit of a celebrity. Seagulls are usually
not that popular but Sam is a star because he's so funny,"
he added.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland
said they had never heard of anything like it before.
A spokesman said gulls can be very quick and fearless, and
clearly Sam was no exception. However, they would discourage
people from feeding gulls, as gulls in towns generate a lot
of complaints every year, and the availability of food is
the only reason they live in urban settings.
A black swan dumped by her lover has been reunited
with her old flame - a giant pedal boat in the shape of a white swan she
had been pining for all winter.
Petra made headlines all around the world in 2006 when she grew so fond
of the plastic boat she could not bear to be parted from it.
The romance between the odd couple blossomed after German zoo officials
in the town of Muenster released Petra on a local lake next to the boat.
She became so besotted with her pedal boat love that she refused to leave
its side, even refusing to mingle with the other swans.