The Dumpster

Mr and Mrs Herringgulls scavenge every morning to feed their little ones. They were a happy family of four, including a son and a just-born daughter. 

Their son had grown and could feed pretty much on his own. He was as handsome as his father, and Mrs Herringgull was sure he would mate with the beauty of their colony, Mrs Mews's darling daughter. 

She was extremely fond of her son who proved to be a great scavenger right on the first day when his father trained him. Like father like son.

Now, all her focus was on their daughter, she wanted her to turn up as a great beauty— clever, strong and eventually mate a worthy male. Only proper food could ensure that.

These days scavenging had become somewhat easy, all both did was drop to the nearby dumpster and look for tiny stuff that seemed to fill their little one's tummy quite quickly and kept her full for a long time too.

There were days when they relied only on tiny fish, dead animals such as rats, fish eggs, earthworms and sometimes plant seeds which took quite a long time to find. Their son had to stay hungry for long hours.

Now with the new dumpster put up by the friendly humans, their life had become a lot easier.

Of course, Mrs. Herringgull was very health-conscious, she refused to feed the same stuff every day. She took care to get live feed every other day to ensure the growth of her daughter.

***

It had been six months since their daughter was born, yet, far from being fully grown and being on her own by now, she became a sickly child who declined to eat anything more than a spoonful a day. She constantly complained of stomach-ache. 

Mrs. Herringgull looked sadly at their daughter, unable to find a cure for her stomach-ache as the kid slowly succumbed to it. She knew the end was near.

It all started a couple of months since they scavenged the dumpster. When their daughter complained of stomach-ache the first time, Mr and Mrs Herringgull were worried and took her to the paediatrician. 

He checked and confirmed their worst fears.

The teeny, tiny particles that they brought home as feed were indeed a dangerous type of fast food that slowly filled their daughter's tummy and refused to leave. She couldn't eat anymore of the regular food, let alone digest it. 

He also informed them that this was the case with most new ones, ever since the gulls scavenged the dumpster. He said, it was a dumpster for a reason. The humans discarded their waste, and it was harmful to any other living creatures just like humans. 

It was too late for their daughter, nevertheless, Mrs Herringgull was determined to save as many lives as possible with proper awareness. She spoke to her husband, their son and created the #NotAnotherSeagull campaign on the correct way to find feeds, and try to live happy in these dangerous times.