Man apologizes after dozens of seagulls trash his hotel room

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Cheryl Santa Maria

Digital Reporter

Tuesday, April 3, 2018, 4:29 PM - Before we start, we should tell you: This is NOT an April Fool's joke.

A Nova Scotia man who was banned from a B.C. hotel in 2001 has been allowed to return after issuing an apology.

Seventeen years ago, Nick Burchill of Dartmouth left a suitcase full of fresh pepperoni near an open window at the Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria.

Then, he went for a walk.

When he returned, he found about 40 seagulls enjoying an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Burchill's re-entry startled the birds, who began flying around in a frenzy.

"They immediately started flying around and crashing into things as they desperately tried to leave the room through the small opening by which they had entered," Burchill wrote in his apology letter.

"The result was a tornado of seagull excrement, feathers, pepperoni chunks and fairly large birds whipping around the room."

In short: The room was trashed, and Burchill says he learned something about the aggressive nature of west coast sea gulls.

"I waded through the birds and opened the remaining windows," he recalls.

"Most of the gulls left immediately. One tried to re-enter the room to grab another piece of pepperoni and in my agitated state, I took off one of my shoes and threw it at him. Both the gull and the shoe went out the window."

The story has been confirmed by Tracey Drake, a spokesperson for the hotel, after checking the Empress' records.

The hotel even recently mentioned the incident on their Facebook page.

In his apology letter, which Burchill hand-delivered on March 30, he says still remembers the horrified look on the cleaner's face when she opened the door to his room.

"I had absolutely no idea what to tell her, so I just said 'I'm sorry' and I went to dinner."

Burchill says he has "matured" since the incident and wanted to take responsibility for his actions. Although his ban had originally been imposed for life, managers decided to pardon him after receiving the letter.

VIDEO: SNEAKY SEAGULL



