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Seagulls have been nursing hangovers in an RSPCA ‘drunk tank’ – leaving staff scratching their heads about how the birds consumed alcohol in high quantities.

The birds have been left too drunk to fly or even walk after consuming a mystery ‘porridge-like’ substance which RSPCA volunteers have found on their beaks – and believe may be a by-product of the brewing process.

This week a crew of six firefighters were called by the RSPCA to rescue a seagull behaving very erratically on a roof at Lyme Regis in Dorset.

When the crew arrived the bird had already fallen off the roof and was sitting shaking his head.

Said Firefighter Watch Manager in Charge Virgil Turner: “When we arrived he had already fallen off the roof, he was sitting shaking his head and he then tried to fly and he nearly hit me in the face, I caught him and he threw-up all over me and he wreaked of beer.”

(Image: Richard Austin)

The gull was taken to the RSPCA HQ at West Hatch near Taunton in Somerset where staff revealed they already had three others all in the ‘Drunk-Tank’ waiting to sober-up for release.

It was initially thought the gulls had been scavenging and found half drunk plastic cups left laying around from the night-before revellers.

But a spokesman for RSPCA West Hatch have almost certainly ruled out that theory, as birds had been regurgitating a pulpy brown substance.

He said: “They are getting in such a state that they are almost unconscious. People have been taking them to the vet, who has thought they were on their way out, so some of the them have been put to sleep.”

(Image: Richard Austin)

He added: “I’m almost positive it is not that they are drinking beer left on beaches as they have all eaten a substance that they have brought back up.

“Our suspicion is that it is a by-product of the brewing process, as they all seem to have eaten the same thing.

“We are looking at possible brewery sources, but we really don’t know where it’s coming from – but I certainly don’t think it’s that they are drinking from pint glasses.”