Teenager gets hit in the face by a seagull on amusement park's slingshot ride

A theme park guest picked up an uninvited feathered friend during a ride on an amusement park's Slingshot attraction.

Kiley Holman, 13, was visiting Morey's Piers and Beachfront Waterpark in New Jersey to celebrate the 14th birthday of her friend Georgia Reed, when the pair decided to ride the Slingshot attraction.

The ride involves guests being strapped into a round cage and catapulted 44 feet at 75 miles per hour into the air on bungee cords.

However, moments are the friends are launched, Kiley came face-to-beak with a seagull, causing her to scream even louder.

A few seconds after Kiley was hit by the bird, she is forced to reach over, grab it, and throw it to the side - in a seamless move even the Irwin family would be proud of.

Speaking to FOX 29 Philadelphia about the unexpected animal encounter, Holman recalled the moment she found herself approaching the bird. "I knew there was no going back," she said. "It was just going to hit me.

"I didn't know what to do, so I wait for [the ride] to spin over and then I just grabbed it and threw it off me quick."

Georgia was also asked if she was aware that her friend had been struck by the bird, to which she simply said: "Nope" - she was clearly too busy screaming her head off and trying to enjoy her birthday.

Once the footage went viral on social media, people were quick to share their hilarious responses to the video.

"The way she just removes the bird as she is being shot into the air," one Twitter user wrote. "Girl can deal with just about anything thrown or flown her way".

Another tweeted: "Alternative headline: seagull gets hit by girl flying through the air. Stay tuned for more news about human aviation at 11."

And a third joked: "I represent Mr. JL Seagull who maintains that he was flying his normal daily commute when he was negligently struck by the humans I question. We will have our day in court!"

The unfortunate incident occurred on July 6, and despite the fact that neither of the girls were hurt, they have stressed that they won't be riding the Slingshot anytime soon.

Featured image credit: Mira / Alamy