Seagull turned bright orange after falling into vat of chicken tikka masala

A seagull turned bright orange after he fell into a vat of chicken tikka masala. The scavenger fell into Britain’s favourite food as he was trying to grab a piece of meat from a food factory bin. “He was in a waste vat of chicken tikka masala,” veterinary nurse Lucy Kells said. “They had found him after he had fallen in. They grabbed him out and then the rescuer brought him to us.



“He was bright orange. We have had wildlife covered in cooking fat and glue, but we have never had one covered in curry before.” The bird was discovered at an undisclosed curry factory in Wales. “Half the staff thought he smelled fantastic and half thought he smelled awful,” Lucy said. “It was really quite easy to get him clean. Once we had got all the chicken tikka off him he was looking quite nice.”



The bird was uninjured. “He was just a bit embarrassed,” Lucy, of Tewkesbury’s Vale Wildlife Hospital, said. “He does not like spicy food any more. The vat was outside and normally covered because it was waste, but for some reason it was not. We think he was fishing out chicken and fell in. He would normally have been able to take off from water but the curry was too thick and gloopy. He would have drowned had they not found him in there.”



The bird has been recovering since he was plucked from danger on Monday. He will remain with the charity until the natural oils in his feathers have recovered. “He was easy to clean because he had not been in there long so the turmeric had not had time to stain the feathers too badly,” Lucy said. “When he came in you wanted to feel sorry and concerned but he was making everyone’s belly rumble,” Lucy added. “It was the weirdest thing we have dealt with here.”