Wetherspoons has banned one of its punters after he punched a seagull to death for stealing a chip.
The incident happened near the Lord High Constable pub in Gloucester Docks, with the bird dying soon after the blow.
A stunned woman who heard the force of the punch turned around in shock at what she had seen, with other passers-by also stopping to have a look at what had happened.
“It happened about a metre from the outside area of the Lord High Constable pub," said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.
"I did not see it but I heard the clunk of the gull being hit.
“It sounded like someone had punched a leather sofa with a good wallop. I turned around a someone asked the man if he had punched the seagull.
“He did not care though. He just said, ‘yeah I did. It nicked one of my chips.'"
It's thought the bird was rolling around on the floor for sometime before a member of the public picked up the gull and moved it to a quiet space behind a plant pot, Gloucestershire Live reports.
“There was a table of 10 people who saw what happened and they were not happy," he woman added.
"His attitude not caring, I asked him if he was serious to do something like that, told him he was disgusting and vile.
“Why could he not just shoo it away? It was horrible to see it after it was hit.
“I don’t know if his girlfriend is aware of it because she was not there when it happened. As soon as she came back from the toilet they left.”
The witness has since reported the incident to the police.
Wetherspoons have also reported the incident to the police and RSPCA and have captured what happened on CCTV.
A spokesperson from Wetherspoon told The Mirror: “An incident occurred involving a customer of the pub and a seagull on Friday evening which the pub management was made aware of after it had happened.
“On a review of the CCTV of the incident, it did not happen on the pub premise itself but the individual concerned will still be barred from returning to the pub.
“The pub notified the RSPCA immediately and the police will also now be notified. CCTV of the incident has been retained and we will assist in any investigation.”
A spokesperson for the RSPCA added: “We would urge anyone with first hand information about this incident to contact us on 0300 123 4999.”
Gloucestershire Police, meanwhile, has confirmed that it's received a report about the incident.
A spokesperson from the force said: "We received a report yesterday (Tuesday) from a member of the public who said she saw a man punch a seagull, and that the bird later died.
"This was reported to have happened on Friday evening in the area of the Quays in Gloucester. We are liaising with the RSPCA."
