Opinion: Seagulls get a bad rap, deserve respect

When most people think of seagulls (myself included), they think of rats with wings, a tornado of flapping white wings descending to pluck every morsel of food from unsuspecting beach-goers and cackling as they fly away. Even in “Finding Nemo,” the seagulls are the only animals who can’t seem to say anything other than “mine.” But is this truly a fair assessment of their status in the animal kingdom? Are seagulls mere vermin or a chilling reflection of humanity itself?

Consider seagulls before the Industrial Age, before boardwalks and discarded French fries and Coney Island funnel cakes. They represented perseverance and the ability of sailors to find land, no matter the difficulty. Seagulls can be found nearly anywhere in the United States, even finding their niche in the pseudo-desert of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, hundreds of miles from the sea shore.

The reason for the almost plague-like spreading of such a seemingly marine species is the seagull’s determination. The seagull can fly for days on end and actually had to in the past if it wished to survive. Islands were plucked clear of food by seagulls in their desperate struggle to live on in a world that held not nearly enough for them to settle down. Before the dawn of the Industrial Age, seagulls were much like early man: nomadic hunter-gatherers. They had no home, no nest, no territory, only sharp, economical wings designed to ride wind currents and the will to survive.

But this changed when man grew complacent. Delegating work to the lower class and machines, mankind finally settled down and enjoyed the easy life. We turned up our noses at the paupers who picked through our trash, full of half-eaten meals and perfectly good clothes, and even more egregiously, decided that the animals that chose the perfectly engineered environment to live in were lower than the lowest rat. We created the ideal life for seagulls and condemn them for capitalizing on it.

This seems like humanity refusing to take responsibility for its actions, passing the bill to the victims rather than accepting that our flaws trickle down. Seagulls, once proud, perhaps even noble birds of the sea, reduced to rats with wings. And maybe this sounds silly to you.

Maybe it seems as if I’m reading too deeply on a subject that holds no meaning. Maybe I am. In fact, I definitely am. Even so, if we can’t take responsibility for things as trivial as the way seagulls live, what can we take responsibility for?

Opinions expressed in editorial and opinion articles are the views of individual NIC students. These views do not necessarily  reflect the opinions of the Sentinel, North Idaho College, or any other organizations or groups there-in. North Idaho College is not responsible for the accuracy of statements or opinions shared.