Whitstable Seagull Kidnaps Cat

July 28, 2009 11:38 PM

Whitstable Seagull Kidnaps CatA story of seagulls, cats and allen keys.
posted by boo_radley (20 comments total)

Your link goes to a comment.

Full disclosure: I killed Jonathan Livingston Seagull and I wear him around my neck.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:08 AM on July 29

I think that's the idea - the story's pretty weak (the seagull lifted the cat "about four feet") but the comments are (supposedly) clever.
posted by nicwolff at 12:46 AM on July 29

I saw this on the newstands when I went to Whitstable! I remember thinking that the story had more than a whiff of exaggeration about it unless one of her cats had suddenly put on a lot of weight between the event and the picture. More likely the cat had got spooked by the bird pecking it, and as cats can do, had jumped up vertically.

Anyway, a derail: on the same day, I went to the excellent Sportsman pub in nearby Seasalter. It's really a restaurant, and they churn their own butter, grow their own veg and make their own ice cream. Divine, and always fully booked so plan ahead.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:48 AM on July 29

"My husband Barry would have gone mad. He'd shoot me before he'd shoot the cats."

Well, that's a happy marriage.
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:50 AM on July 29

This was picked up by The Now Show and a lot of the comments followed that I think.
posted by paduasoy at 12:58 AM on July 29

I went to school in Whitstable. Peter Cushing lived there. You could see him on his bicycle. You could see him buying vegetables.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 1:01 AM on July 29 [6 favorites]

I love the Now Show.....


Oh, that cat ? Probably had some Allen keys in its collar.
posted by Pendragon at 1:43 AM on July 29

My god. Those comments are like a hundred Bobs doing stand-up. Bob was my boss in my first job. He looked like Hank Hill. You probably don't know him, but if you did, you'd know what I mean.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 2:56 AM on July 29

Yeah, I know Bob. He stole my allen keys.
posted by cillit bang at 3:14 AM on July 29

I always hate those days where you get into that situation where you're forced to shoot either the cat or your wife.
posted by Phanx at 3:30 AM on July 29 [1 favorite]

I love those day, they make me feel alive.
posted by ninebelow at 5:20 AM on July 29

It just goes to show, you can't be too careful!
posted by anthill at 5:33 AM on July 29

Wait, Alan Keyes was kidnapped by birds and all the news gets is a throwaway line in a fluff piece in some British paper? Wow, he really is politically irrelevant.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:46 AM on July 29 [1 favorite]

I just don't know.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:30 AM on July 29

As an American, the only response I can give is to blame the NHS. Remember kids, socialized medicine leads to things like seagulls kidnapping cats.
posted by happyroach at 9:21 AM on July 29 [1 favorite]

The comments started to get a serious accent in my head while reading them. Hilarious. Badgers with wings, hang gliding beagles, lions on trampolines. National Seagull Lottery of Nigeria. LOL
posted by Xoebe at 9:24 AM on July 29

You want out of control seaguls?

first video here
posted by edgeways at 9:29 AM on July 29

I'd shoot her before my cat anyday

twice
posted by MontySwan at 10:45 AM on July 29

Seagulls are awesome. So are crows.
posted by blucevalo at 11:02 AM on July 29

MuffinMan: "I saw this on the newstands when I went to Whitstable! I remember thinking that the story had more than a whiff of exaggeration about it unless one of her cats had suddenly put on a lot of weight between the event and the picture."

Reading the story a second time, it seems like the cat that got lifted was not one of hers. It's not clear whose cat it was; maybe a stray or feral cat that hangs out in her yard. She says she saw the cat get picked up, and ran out to get her cats — apparently not the same as the one that got picked up — and that the cat that got lifted ran away.

It doesn't strike me as totally unbelievable that a seagull could pick up and carry, at least for a short distance, a small feral cat or kitten. Certainly it's not going anywhere with either of that lady's cats, though.

The story itself is terribly written; it took me two or three passes through to parse the supposed sequence of events.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:29 PM on July 29