Nora, Sweden, - A Swedish man who kept a herring gull in
his apartment as a pet since it was a chick was forced to let the bird be
euthanized by animal welfare officials, news media reported.
The man had been keeping the bird in his home for two
years, Sweden's The Local reported,
but officials in the city of Nora said he could not keep the gull in captivity
without a permit.
The Nerikes Allehandra newspaper recently reported that an animal welfare inspector found the bird in the man's dark, tiny
bathroom after a neighbor made a complaint. The tenant reportedly told
officials he'd kept it as a pet since it was very young and let it fly around
in his home.
The bird had never flown outside, officials said, and would
have had no chance to fend for itself in its natural habitat. The man fed it
fish and vitamins, meaning it would not know how to find its own food in the
wild.
Since local law prohibits citizens from catching and caring
for wild birds without a permit, the city decided the bird must be euthanized immediately, on the spot.
The man reportedly asked animal officials to release the
bird into the wild, but they refused because they said the gull was never
trained by its mother to survive on its own.
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