Gull snatches dog
Chihuahua Gizmo’s fate unknown
MYSTERY over what happened to a beloved chihuahua apparently snatched by a seagull deepened yesterday.
Becca Hill said one of the birds took the tiny dog, named Gizmo, from her garden in Paignton, Devon, in the UK.
Last night bird experts said Gizmo may have been attacked because the gull viewed him as a threat to its young – or else he was simply taken as a meal.
Hill, 24, described how her partner Ashley Rawlings, 32, was hanging out the washing on Sunday when he saw the seagull swoop into their garden.
Experts have been drafted in to help search for Gizmo but there has been no trace of him.
Meanwhile, neighbours claimed aggressive gulls have left them fearful for their children’s safety. Hill said: “A seagull swooped down and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. My partner tried to grab his legs, but he wasn’t tall enough.”
UAV Lost Dog Search and Rescue, a local team of experts that searches for missing pets, has been helping the family since the alleged incident. The dog remains missing and Hill’s daughter, 6, was said to be “heartbroken”.
Neighbours living on the same street said that gulls nested in the area and were frequently aggressive, leaving them fearful for their pets and children.
One resident said: “I’ve got to watch the kids out in the garden because the gulls do swoop, especially when they’re breeding. They aren’t scared of us anymore.”
Another neighbour added: “The seagulls around here can be very aggressive. We’ve got a husky and they’ve tried to swoop on her before.”
A third local, who lives on the same street, said: “I’ve seen them snatch rabbits and I think her dog is about the same size.”
Hill, who is four months pregnant, said she was “focusing on comforting” her 6-year-old daughter. She also hit back at “hateful and spiteful” online claims that she had made up the story.
“I’m in bits,” she said. “People have been saying I made it all up, but my boyfriend saw it all. Until I know exactly what’s happened I won’t be able to rest – he’s my baby and I miss him.”
UAV Lost Dog Search and Rescue had initially hoped to fly drones to help in the search, however they were unable to do so because the area is too built up. Instead, they knocked on doors urging people to check their gardens, roofs and trees. Tony Whitehead, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said it was very rare for a gull to snatch a dog but suggested an adult gull may have been reacting to what it thought was a threat to its chick.
He added: “The second possibility is that it is simply predation, and gulls can certainly take small mammals and other birds.” |