An exotic-looking bird rescued and treated by animal hospital staff in the UK later stunned its vets after they realised that the creature was, in fact, a seagull covered in curry, CNN reports.
The bird - which resembles Fawkes from the Harry Potter movies - was left bright orange after veterinarians believe it managed to become covered in "curry or turmeric", which rendered the gull unable to fly properly.
"This is one of the strangest casualty circumstances we have seen in a while!" the hospital wrote on Facebook. "This bright-orange herring gull was rescued by kind members of the public who spotted him at the side of the A41. When they called to say they had picked up an orange bird, we had no idea what to expect – and would never have guessed at this!"
"He had somehow gotten himself covered in curry or turmeric! It was all over his feathers, preventing him from flying properly. We have no idea how he got into this predicament but thankfully, apart from the vibrant colour and pungent smell, he was healthy."
The bird was spotted by members of the public and was later picked up by a volunteer for Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, near Haddenham, Aylesbury, where it was taken for treatment.
The seagull was named 'Vinny' by staff, after the popular Vindaloo curry. The hospital workers revealed that despite carrying a "pungent smell", Vinny was otherwise perfectly healthy.
However, whilst receiving a much-needed bath, Vinny put up quite the fight and covered his rescuers in curry water.
Related - seagull eats baby turtles, just moments after being released on live TV:Nevertheless, now Vinny is back to his lovely white feathers, the veterinary team revealed that he will be released back into the wild shortly:
"He is now looking much better and should be able to go for release very soon! As we say, we never know what will come through our doors next!
"Huge thanks to the lovely finders who stopped to rescue him."