A man has been pardoned for accidentally enticing a flock of seagulls to ransack his room almost two decades ago.

Nick Burchill was banned by the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, after leaving pepperoni on his windowsill during a company trip, causing the ravenous birds to swoop into the building.

He had picked up a large amount of "Brothers' Pepperoni" from his home in Nova Scotia for his friends in the Navy, but his hotel room had no refrigerator.

So, he left it by the window, so it would remain cool because of the breeze, and went out for a walk for a few hours.

Mr Burchill said of the scene on his return: "I remember walking down the long hall and opening the door to my room to find an entire flock of seagulls in my room. I didn’t have time to count, but there must have been 40 of them and they had been in my room, eating pepperoni for a long time.