iStockphoto
There’s a reason beaches are an attractive destination for people around the world, although there are plenty of things with the potential to spoil your time chilling on the sand.
That includes succumbing to a particularly severe sunburn, inadvertently setting up shop in the wrong spot at low tide, and being subjected to people who have absolutely no business rocking a Speedo in public but still decide to do exactly that.
However, I’d argue there’s no more consistent source of frustration than what I assume most beachgoers would view as their mortal enemy: seagulls.
Seagulls are essentially the coastal version of pigeons; scavengers that are always on the hunt for their next meal and won’t think twice about rummaging through a bag or attempting to swoop down and pluck food straight out of your hand in order to get their fix.
However, some seagulls in the United Kingdom have apparently developed a taste for a different type of fix that’s reportedly led to drug-fueled “zombie birds” wreaking havoc around the country.
According to The Daily Star, the issue can be traced back to K2 (a.k.a. “spice”), a form of synthetic marijuana that exists in a legal grey area. While the downsides of the drug are very well-documented, that hasn’t stopped plenty of people—and seagulls—in the U.K. from using it.
The outlet reports people in multiple resort towns (as well as major cities including London and Liverpool) have reported a number of encounters with seagulls who’ve grabbed a bag of K2 or nicked a spice joint while it was being passed around, which reportedly has turned some of them into “psycho gulls” that have a tendency to terrorize people more than seagulls already do.
Based on the health risks, it’s probably best to just avoid the substance in the first place, but you might want to keep your head on a swivel for seagulls if you’re unable to resist.