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Man Charged for Decapitating Seagull Over French Fry

The New Jersey man took violent revenge on the thieving bird.

A grand jury has indicted a man in New Jersey on animal cruelty charges for decapitating a bird who stole a French fry from his daughter. Franklin Ziegler, 30, was on Surfside Pier at Morey’s Piers & Beachfront Waterparks in North Wildwood last summer when the gull dove to grab the tasty bait. In a gross overreaction, Ziegler decapitated the bird and walked around the park with the carcass before asking staff for a trash bag. Onlookers called the cops. Ziegler allegedly became hostile with the officers showed up and was charged with animal cruelty and resisting arrest. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 protects the gulls and other migratory birds by making it illegal to “pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, or sell seagulls.” Barry Fast, who has run Seagull Control Systems in New Rochelle for over two decades, told the New York Post that he deals with seagulls grabbing people’s food all the time. “Seagulls are flocking birds; they tend to colonize locations where they have a constant food source,” he said, adding that he receives two or three calls for help with seagull trouble per day.