Police Report Includes Different Account of Gull Incident

Laughing gulls find food on the beach at 10th Street on Tuesday afternoon. Police and animal control officials continue Wednesday to seek eyewitnesses to an incident described as a man killing a gull on a crowded beach Friday (July 24) at 39th Street in Ocean City. A widely circulated social media post described an adult beachgoer breaking the gull's wing, then snapping its neck and tossing it in a trash can. Another member of the man's party swung at other gull's with a closed umbrella, according to the account. Read more: Man Snaps Gull's Neck to Horror of Ocean City Beach Crowd. But the man told police a different story when he was questioned that afternoon. He told police a sea gull attacked his two-year-old child while she was eating, pecking at the girl's head and face, according to the police report filed on Friday. The father said he struck the bird with a towel in an effort to protect his daughter, apparently injuring the wing of the bird so it could no longer fly, according to the report. The bird fell into the water and was seen struggling to get out. The father told police he did not want small children see the bird possibly drown, so he removed the bird from the water and placed it in a trash receptacle. He claims the bird died before he placed it in the trash receptacle, the report states. _____ Sign up for free daily news updates from Ocean City. Follow OCNJ Daily on Facebook. _____ Police said nobody came forward to dispute the account while they were on the scene, and no witnesses have come forward since. Ocean City Police Capt. Steve Ang said Wednesday that the department is following up the investigation based on the Instagram/Facebook post in cooperation with the Humane Society of Ocean City, which serves as animal control for the municipality. Anybody who witnessed the incident is asked to email Bill Hollingsworth of the Humane Society at [email protected]. If the facts stand, it appears the father would have acted in a manner to protect his child from being attacked by the bird, Ang said.