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Vets solve the spicy mystery of the shockingly bright orange gull

Meet Vinny, short for "vindaloo."

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

Recently, some good Samaritans spotted a bright orange herring gull next to the side of the A41 highway in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. But when they brought it safely to the charmingly named Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, it turned out that Cheeto-like color wasn't his natural hue.

"He had somehow gotten himself covered in curry or tumeric," the hospital staff wrote in a Facebook post. 

The spices, they said, coated the bird's feathers, preventing him from flying properly.

"We have no idea how he got into this predicament," the post went on to say, "but thankfully, apart from the vibrant color and pungent smell, he was healthy."

Tiggywinkles did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the post notes that the bird was named Vindaloo, after the spicy curry dish, and nicknamed "Vinny."

The wildlife hospital posted two images of Vinny being bathed (spoiler: he does not seem to like it), and a final shot showing his natural white and gray plumage restored.

"We treated him much like we would treat an oiled bird, where we give him a bath with some fairy liquid [dish soap, to Americans] in nice hot water and we have to wash every single feather" a staff member told British television network ITV.

Staff speculated Vinny could've fallen into a waste container or some other kind of open bin of curry, tumeric or a curry sauce, and urged people to be considerate when throwing away trash. The bird is fine, and should be released back into the wild shortly, ITV reported.