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Seagull steals Massachusetts man’s wallet on beach

Posted at 3:42 PM, Aug 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-08 15:42:19-04

BOSTON, Mass. (WBZ-TV) – Everyone has a fish story, but for Aaron Weiner from Beverly, Massachusetts, it was a seagull.

“We were enjoying a nice night at the beach, had been there for like an hour,” Weiner tells WBZ’s Anaridis Rodriguez.

His story starts last Friday night while he and his family were swimming at Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.

“All of a sudden a guy came running up saying that a bird had stolen my wallet,” Weiner says. “And I thought he was a lunatic.”

Weiner says the bird did fish his money clip out of his beach bag and got away with $200, his credit cards and his license. Hoping it had dropped it somewhere he and his wife went looking for it by a seawall.

“Searched through there for like 10 minutes, 15 minutes but we were right on the cusp of the sun being down completely,” Weiner says. “So we folded pretty quickly then on the way home called the police. They were also in disbelief that a seagull had taken my wallet.”

Scott Santino works at Mass Audubon and says it’s possible.

“Those coastal habitats is where seagulls forage for food. But on those offshore islands it’s where they have their nesting colonies,” Santino said.

He says the gull probably thought the clip was a crab and that it’s best to keep your belongings out of sight while swimming.

Which is what Weiner did when he returned to the beach two days later. “Yeah, we were there on Sunday. I put my things in the same pocket but I zipped it up this time,” Weiner said.

He never found his wallet. At last check, the bold bird is still at large.