Police in England are investigating after a man was seen walking down a street with a live seagull attached to a rope.
The bird had to be put down after it was rescued when police were called and arrested the man for being drunk and disorderly.
An investigation is still ongoing into the incident, at about 8pm on Monday in Blackpool, Lancs.
A statement from Lancashire Police said: “We were called at about 8pm on MondayApril 10th to a report of a man pulling a live seagull along the pavement with a rope around its neck in Blackpool, Lancs.
“Officers attended and the man, in his 50s, was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and though subsequently de-arrested, the matter is still being investigated.
“The bird was taken by a member of the public to a local vet where they decided it sadly had to be put down.”
A photo of the man with the seagull has been circulating on social media.
Brambles Wildlife Rescue, a local charity in Blackpool said it had to turn off and remove “moronic comments” from its Facebook page after sharing details of the incident.
In a statement on their Facebook page, the charity said: “A number of people contacted us about the image and video circulating on social media of an extremely vile person dragging a seagull on a lead at Bispham roundabout in Blackpool and in another location on the pavement.
“We have spoken with Lancashire Constabulary who are dealing with this and are aware of the identity and location of the person involved.
“They have telephoned today with an update to say a passer-by secured the gull off him, it was taken to a vet and was sadly put to sleep.
“We would add that it did look severely unwell and we cannot know if it could have recovered.
“Our lovely vet once said to us that she thought that people are often against seagulls because they are successful.
“This is sadly often the case with the human pecking order.
“Well we love seagulls here!
“Goodnight little gull, may the next world be much kinder.”
