An extremely odd story reaches us from Bournemouth, where it appears lawyers' offices abut each other to a remarkably extent. 'Staff at offices in Bournemouth were left horrified and in tears after watching three seagull chicks killed in front of them because they were deemed a health and safety risk,' the local Daily Echo reported last month. The seagull family apparently lived on the roof of local law firm Harold G Walker and had become popular with staff in surrounding buildings, including those of fellow solicitors Lester Aldridge. 'What I saw was so upsetting. Several of us were crying,' the paper quoted one Lester Aldridge employee as saying. 'There are a lot of women on our floor and we've become very attached and broody over those chicks.' Later the article explains how workers from the Crown Prosecution Service next door were also watching 'as the dead chicks were thrown into a black plastic bag'. The Lester Aldridge employee added: 'If I knew what I was going to witness, I would have taken them home myself.' The managing director of the company that carried out the slaughter explained that 'pest birds such as urban gulls are known carriers of disease', while a spokesperson for Harold G Walker told the paper that the decision was taken for the health and safety of staff, visitors and members of the public.