they're covered by migratory bird protection legislations from what i read. and some of the seagull spiecies are pretty endangered. can't tell you more than that, i just accepted that the sky thieves dickheads cannot be touched

I feel like the default is that you aren't allowed to kill animals. Not as in most laws outlaw killing any animal, just that there are probably a lot of laws about randomly killing animals that aren't like tiny bugs and stuff. Like you can't just kill a deer unless you have a hunting permit. You can't catch fish without a fishing license. Sure, you're probably allowed to kill animals on your property that are a nuisance or anywhere in defense, but I wouldn't just assume I can kill a random animal.

https://birdfact.com/articles/are-seagulls-protected-in-the-uk

Protected status in the UK. "[T]hey are protected by law. This means it is illegal to kill, injure, or capture a gull."

HTH.

they're also protected in China and India, which together with the other ones accounts for like 70% of the world. are they protected everywhere? probably not, there are definitely some countries that have little to no wildlife protection legislations, but i'm not exactly a seagull murder law expert, nor do i want to become one, so i'll stop at that

What we need is someone versed in bird law.

uhoh, my 2 from geography is showing (scale from 1-6, with 1 being fail)

And that UK and Ireland aren't a part of Europe?

yea i'm bad at geography