Meet Mr Pooh: the seagull who thinks he’s a cat

A confused seagull adopted by a family after he fell down their chimney three years ago now acts as though he is one of their cats.

Steve and June Grimwood, from Shoreham, rescued the herring gull, who they named Mr Pooh, and brought him up with their pet moggies.

He will happily rest in their basket and eat their food and returns every day in summer, pecking on the door to come in for a feed.

The family found him as a chick after he popped out of the chimney covered in black soot.

“We kept putting him back up the other end of the garden because we have three cats and they were wary of him at first.

“But he wasn’t having any of it.

“One day he slipped into the cat basket and the cats just ignored him.

“After a week or so he was eating cat food out of a bowl with them.

“I think he thought he was a cat.”

The persistent seagull eventually charmed his way into the Grimwoods’ home and earned the name Mr Pooh by making a mess the moment he crossed the threshold.

Now Mitzi, Gus and Henry let him share their food when he flies down from the roof, where he has nested with a female.

June Grimwood, 50, said: “We thought when he flew away for the winter he was gone but, blow me down, the following year he came back with a mate.

“Now every year we wait apprehensively to see if he will return.

“We would be devatsated if he didn’t.

“While he’s here he comes to visit three times a day for breakfast, dinner and tea and makes himself known by pecking on the door to come in.

“He’ll often just wander in and help himself to cat food or the cat’s biscuits.

“He also knows the sound of the fridge door opening and he’ll come in for that as well.

“He’s just like another pet in the family and even comes when he is called.

“He keeps me company in the garden, cocking his head from side to side as if to say he understands me when I chat away to him.”

John Connor Press Associates – covering Sussex for the national press

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