“Tikka masala is tasty, regardless of one's species.”
July 10, 2019 8:47 AM   Subscribe

A bright orange bird was rescued from the highway. Turns out it was just a seagull covered in curry. [CBS News] “When strangers reported finding a bright orange bird alongside a highway, a British wildlife hospital didn't know what to expect. As they later found out, the potentially exotic bird they thought they'd be encountering was actually just a seagull covered completely in curry. [...] The hospital even named him "Vinny" after Vindaloo curry. Members of the hospital's veterinary team "bravely" bathed him to clean his feathers. After some reluctance, he let them scrub him. Photos from the hospital show Vinny's dramatic transformation –– from orange to mostly white.”

• It's Disturbingly Common for Seagulls to Get Into Our Food Supply [Vice News]
“While this may sound too bizarre not to be a one-off, Vinny actually wasn't the first bird with this problem. There's a recent history of gulls who, just like Vinny, have gotten into trouble after seemingly having fallen into vats of turmeric-laced stews. In June 2016, a seagull cleverly nicknamed "Gullfrazie" was found after having plunged into a chicken tikka masala at a food factory. ("They managed to return him back to his original white colour but have not been able to wash away the smell," the BBC reported.) Just two months later, another Welsh gull fell into a vat of tandoori sauce. ”
posted by Fizz (35 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Was the one who fell into the tandoori sauce called "Kormarant"? Who decided that the birds should be named after a different kind of curry than what they fell into anyway?
posted by tobascodagama at 8:59 AM on July 10, 2019 [17 favorites]


Here is a direct link to the facebook post from Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital from which those pictures were taken.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 8:59 AM on July 10, 2019


Now I've got "The Orange Bird Song" stuck in my head.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:05 AM on July 10, 2019


In any case, attempts to block the birds haven't been entirely successful, either. In March 2016, a tofu factory in Canada found 70 seagulls in a vat of tofu byproduct. As a spokesperson for Superior Tofu told CBC at the time, the gulls, who enjoy eating the leftover tofu pulp, were so common a problem that the factory had installed guard rails to keep the birds out. That design, however, let the birds in, but not out—which is why so many of them ended up in need of rescuing.

I once worked at a vegetable processing factory where the "corn slab" (the concrete surface where field trucks dumped corn awaiting a ride up a conveyor belt to the processing building) was equipped with propane-powered cannons to scare off seagulls.

The problem was, you'd be walking across the yard and forget about the cannons because they hadn't gone off in a while, and then one would go off. I spilled more than one coffee that way.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:05 AM on July 10, 2019 [10 favorites]


There is a whole world of pain between a tikka masala and a proper british vindaloo. Both however pair nicely with a french fighting lager.
posted by srboisvert at 9:06 AM on July 10, 2019 [6 favorites]


Poor tikka masalbatross. Glad he's going to be OK.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 9:08 AM on July 10, 2019 [16 favorites]


There was a Bick's Pickle plant in a non-descript part of Scarborough, ON that had an elevated railway built as part of local transit just outside its back property line. After seeing the flocks of seagulls (and possibly Flock of Seagulls) dining from vats in the yard, I've never eaten a pickle again.
posted by Quindar Beep at 9:09 AM on July 10, 2019 [2 favorites]


Butter chicken unavailable for comment.
posted by peeedro at 9:13 AM on July 10, 2019 [21 favorites]


Poor tikka masalbatross

You don't get wafers with it, but you do get papadums.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:21 AM on July 10, 2019 [5 favorites]


excuse me, "Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital" sounds like it should be in Theme Animal Hospital or something
posted by dismas at 9:23 AM on July 10, 2019 [13 favorites]


This is the best thread. I've spent the last twenty minutes envisioning long conversations about sea birds and spicy condiments. Like, the sea gull is going on about the Tandoori Sauce and the Pelican's all, "I'm kind of just a shrimp guy." And the gull is like, "Yeah, fine, but have you tried some fresh shrimp with a little mango pickle on the side? Mind. Blowing, my dude."
posted by thivaia at 9:36 AM on July 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


Maybe the bird went orange from eating Doritos.
posted by w0mbat at 9:42 AM on July 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


Did they even consider that the coloring might have been a personal fashion choice?
posted by Splunge at 9:50 AM on July 10, 2019


Best wishes from Vindaloon.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 9:55 AM on July 10, 2019 [14 favorites]


I considered making this its own FPP when I saw it the other week but it seems to fit here with the discussion of various anti-seagull devices: Seagulls hate the Cha-Cha Slide
posted by sunset in snow country at 10:12 AM on July 10, 2019 [3 favorites]


[Adds getting "completely covered in curry" to bucket list]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:16 AM on July 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


I considered making this its own FPP when I saw it the other week but it seems to fit here with the discussion of various anti-seagull devices: Seagulls hate the Cha-Cha Slide

You could almost say that the Cha-Cha Slide is a...

*puts on sunglasses, makes bird flapping motion with arms*

... bird banger.




I'll show myself out.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:25 AM on July 10, 2019 [5 favorites]


I nearly thought the article was a joke because of the hospital name, but it's a real wildlife hospital that got it's name from the titular hedgehog from The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter.
posted by xtine at 10:43 AM on July 10, 2019 [7 favorites]


Welp now I’m just envisioning Fawkes the phoenix as a seagull covered in curry. That wingspan photo is kind of majestic.
posted by donut_princess at 10:45 AM on July 10, 2019 [4 favorites]


I suppose there could be worse ways to die than drowning in Tikka Masala.
posted by supermedusa at 11:39 AM on July 10, 2019 [2 favorites]


Butter chicken unavailable for comment.

"Naan of my business."
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:06 PM on July 10, 2019 [17 favorites]


paging orange swan
posted by lazaruslong at 12:54 PM on July 10, 2019 [5 favorites]


There's actually a show about St. Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital! I watched it on some streaming service.

Beginning in July 2008, Tiggywinkles featured in Wild Animal ER, a 20-part, half-hour documentary TV series presented by Kate Gerbeau and produced by Two Hand Productions, and shown on Channel Five in the UK.
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:11 PM on July 10, 2019


Australian seagulls carry untreatable illnesses. As one would expect. Consequently, I'm quite alarmed at the suggestion that they are to be regularly found taking baths in curry. Here's a writeup from noted medical correspondent First Dog on the Moon.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:06 PM on July 10, 2019 [2 favorites]



Butter chicken unavailable for comment.

"Naan of my business."



Is that samosa be funny?
posted by JenThePro at 2:19 PM on July 10, 2019 [6 favorites]


Dosa the kind of puns we deserve, even if dosa not what we might want.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 3:08 PM on July 10, 2019 [7 favorites]


Dosa the kind of puns we deserve, even if dosa not what we might want.

If it's wrong-a I don't want to be raita.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:18 PM on July 10, 2019 [3 favorites]


[Adds getting "completely covered in curry" to bucket list]
Birds feel no effect from capsaicin. The effect on a mammal may be ... more dramatic than a saffron color.

Forgive my assumption about your species. On the internet, no one knows you're a gray parrot.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 4:56 PM on July 10, 2019 [7 favorites]


Intergalactic, planetary, planetary, seagull in tumeric
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:20 PM on July 10, 2019 [8 favorites]


Both however pair nicely with a french fighting lager.

Not with a Kingfisher?
posted by basalganglia at 7:12 PM on July 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


> Poor tikka masalbatross.

I'll take two!
posted by sourcequench at 9:40 PM on July 10, 2019 [1 favorite]


Earlier this evening, on my way home with groceries, I disturbed a seagull digging into some saag and paneer from a takeout container that had somehow ended up in the middle of the quiet street I was on. S/he flew off as I approached, leaving the saag there in the street, while I continued on my way, looking forward to the butter chicken I would soon be having myself (undisturbed by potentially hostile intruders!).
posted by tenderly at 11:38 PM on July 10, 2019


"We have no idea how he got into this predicament but thankfully, apart from the vibrant color and pungent smell, he was healthy," the hospital said.

"I have no idea how these seagulls got their bodies wedged into their curry, or why"
posted by chavenet at 4:17 AM on July 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


i too am often accidentally covered in curry where is my recognition
posted by poffin boffin at 7:09 AM on July 11, 2019 [5 favorites]


oooo turmeric!
Oh those yellow stains - so hard to get out of anything.
Good on the vets for patient cleansing.
Good for the bird for being patient.
posted by Mesaverdian at 8:20 AM on July 11, 2019


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