What was claimed
A video shows immigrants catching a seagull in London, probably with the intention of eating it.
Our verdict
The video shows bird ringers catching a seagull, so that they can mark it for research purposes before releasing it.
Video does not show ‘immigrants’ catching seagulls to ‘feast’ on
20 December 2022
A video on Facebook which appears to show a woman and man catching a seagull near Tower Bridge in London has the caption: “Immigrants catching seagulls now to probably feast on. I'm sure these birds are protected animals by law.”
But experts say it actually shows trained volunteers catching and marking a seagull for research.
When the broadcaster Jeremy Vine tweeted the same video (without this caption) asking what was going on in it, the British Trust for Ornithology (the study of birds) replied: “This is all legitimate and it's acceptable for trained, licensed volunteers to catch some species of bird by hand, which are marked and released as quickly as possible. The data generated provides useful information on bird movements and survival.”
The organisation went on to say: “We do ask bird ringers operating in public places to ensure that members of the public are fully informed about what is taking place, though.”
As the British Trust for Ornithology’s website explains, bird ringing “generates information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds, helping us to understand why populations are changing”.
Gulls have a protected status across the UK, and it is illegal to intentionally kill one, although permits can be issued allowing the destruction of nests or gulls for certain reasons, including to conserve other wild birds and stop the spread of disease.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false because the video does not show people catching a seagull to eat it, but catching it to ‘ring’ it before letting it go.