Gulls in Devon and Dorset 'showing signs of drunkenness'

RSPCA has collected a large number of gulls exhibiting signs of disorientation, confusion and loss of balance

Khadija Kothia

Fri 6 Jul 2018 18.48 BSTLast modified on Mon 9 Jul 2018 09.06 BST

Gulls in Devon and areas of Dorset have been portraying signs of drunkenness, the RSPCA has said.

The animal welfare charity has collected a large number of gulls exhibiting signs of disorientation, confusion and loss of balance. The first incidents were reported on 21 June.

“We have had a number of these come through over the last couple of weeks. At first the birds look like they have botulism but then, after vomiting, most seem to recover,” said Jo Daniel, an RSPCA inspector.

The charity is urging local alcohol producers, distilleries and breweries to check their waste is secure and that it cannot be accessed by wildlife.

David Couper, an RSPCA vet who has treated a number of gulls at the charity’s West Hatch centre in Taunton, Somerset, said: “Sadly a few of the birds have died but most of them have made good recoveries and have been released after a few days in our care.

“I’d like to urge any local vets who see birds coming in with similar symptoms not to euthanise them but to give them a chance to recover from the effects of the alcohol.”

Source/video  

Drunk birds don’t sing as well, study finds

December 29, 2014

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Just as getting drunk can impact a person’s ability (and willingness) to sing, consuming too much alcohol can have a similar effect on some types of birds, researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) have discovered in a new study.

In an interview with NPR on Sunday, Christopher Olson explained how he and his colleagues used zebra finches as part of their research, since the birds have long been used as a model to study vocal learning and communication skills in humans. Since alcohol can have a major impact on the speech patterns of people, they wanted to see if the finches would also be affected.

“We just showed up in the morning and mixed a little bit of juice with 6 percent alcohol, and put it in their water bottles and put it in the cages,” he explained. “At first we were thinking that they wouldn’t drink on their own because, you know, a lot of animals just won’t touch the stuff. But they seem to tolerate it pretty well and be somewhat willing to consume it.”

The blood alcohol content of the birds were measured in the .05 percent to .08 percent range. While those levels would not be enough to make a person become fall-down drunk, it was more than enough to generate the intended effects, since birds metabolize alcohol differently.

An audio recording indicates that the finches’ song becomes quieter and slightly slurred, or as Olson put it, the birds become “a bit less organized in their sound production.” He added that his research team now wants to find out how being drunk changes the way finches learn new songs.

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