Just desserts? Bird beaten for stealing ice cream

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. – A rare gull that apparently tried to eat a couple's ice cream was euthanized after the man beat the bird with a stick. Dragan Djuric, 50, of Wichita, Kansas, and his wife were eating ice cream New Year's Eve on the boardwalk at Main Beach when a flock of birds attacked them, Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jeff Calvert said.

One bird hit Djuric's wife in the head and tried to take the ice cream. Djuric was defecated on.

The couple dropped the frozen food and Djuric began hitting the birds with a stick, Calvert said.

One of the birds — a rare Heermann's gull — sustained a broken wing and was later euthanized.

Djuric was cited and released on suspicion of animal cruelty.

Heermann's gulls are on the Audubon Society's watch list for at-risk birds. The creatures are surprisingly aggressive and steal fish from the pouches of pelicans and chase other birds to take their prey, according to the society's Web site.

The estimated population of Heermann's gulls is 525,000.

If they attack people they should have an open season on them. We are the top of the food chain and they could be food if somebody was hungry.

gulls r nasty birds .....n if they did that too me ,,,id probly do the same even tho i love birds .....n ya papa they probly should open a season on them theres millions of them..... WHATS FOR SUPPER TONIGHT .....baked gull lol

I've seen gulls at the city and county dumps by the hundreds of thousands...they eat anything...I have seen them attack a black bird on the beach and within seconds the black bird was in the mouths of 20 gulls dismembered.