The leader of North East Lincolnshire Council has retracted a social media post implying a Grimsby woman intended to cause harm to a seagull. A video has gone viral on social media, showing a woman, wearing a hijab, using a sheet to capture a juvenile seagull in a Grimsby front garden in West Marsh.
It was a rescue but the rescuer was accused of planning to harm the bird
Many have wrongly jumped to the conclusion that the woman meant harm to the bird. In reality, it appears the woman was seeking to rescue the juvenile seagull from potentially wandering onto a busy road.
Among those who implied the woman meant harm to the bird was council leader Cllr Oliver Freeston (Reform UK – Croft Baker Ward). He shared the viral video to his Facebook page with the wording: “Grimsby in 2026″.
“I would remind all that in the UK, all wild gulls are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Perhaps Nigel Farage was right…” He has since deleted the post and issued an update on Thursday, July 9, acknowledging the woman was rescuing the gull.
“Credit where credit is due, fair play to the lady for rescuing the bird,” he stated in the newer post. “If I can make a donation to an animal charity of your choice, please reach out to me,” with emojis at the end including the handshake and heart emojis.
The councillor takes animal safety very serious, but jumped to conclusions
“Like many people, I was deeply disturbed by the video circulating online,” said Cllr Freeston, after being asked by The LDRS if he apologised for implying the woman intended to harm the gull. “I take animal welfare incredibly seriously, which is why I was concerned to understand exactly what had happened.”
A number of comments on his more recent social media post on the seagull video have questioned what he meant in his original post by “Perhaps Nigel Farage was right…” This has also been raised by a number of Grimsby Live readers.
On this, Cllr Freeston stated: “When I said, ‘Perhaps Farage was right…’, I was referring to the wider debate on animal welfare that he and many other politicians, has raised over the years.”
“It has since been established that the lady involved was actually trying to rescue the seagull, and that is something to be commended. If she is involved in campaigning for animal welfare, I would be more than happy to meet with her to discuss how I can support those efforts.”
Accusations the rescuer planned to eat the bird
The widely shared video has seen widespread false accusations that the gull was being collected to be eaten. Abusive and offensive comments towards the woman who rescued the seagull have also featured in some of those comments and posts.
James Elliot, known as the Canoe River Cleaner, has posted a video on social media where he expressed disgust at some of the comments made in response to the seagull video. “This kind of needs to be said just for truth.
“There’s been a lot of comments on this particular video that are downright hateful.” Mr Elliot said he felt something was not quite right when seeing the original video.
He looked into it and found another video that confirmed the woman was helping rescue the bird and get it onto a flat roof, rather than being close to a busy road. Individuals from a nearby shop helped her to do this too, whom he contacted and verified what had happened as well.
“Sadly, I think she’s going to come under a lot of fire for people’s misinterpretation,” stated Mr Elliot of the seagull Samaritan.
It is not the first time misinformation has spread viral on social media suggesting that individuals of a non-white ethnicity have sought to eat seagulls. In December 2022, a video went viral of a woman and man near Tower Bridge, London, appearing to catch a seagull, with a caption: “Immigrants catching seagulls now to probably feast on.”
The rescuer was actually a british Trust for ornithology volunteer
Fact-checking organisation Full Fact twice put out debunking articles clarifying that video actually captured British Trust for Ornithology licensed volunteers marking and releasing birds for research.
By Local Democracy Reporter Ivan Morris Poxton.
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