Vets were left shocked after discovering what ‘mysterious exotic bird’ turned out to be

A veterinary hospital was left stunned after the bright orange-coloured bird they had taken in was not as 'exotic' as they thought.

Back in 2019, a tropical-looking bird was randomly found on the side of the A41.

It struck out and was unable to fly for a short while, said vets from the Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Aylesbury.

Tiggywinkles took it in and assumed that the bright-coloured look of the bird meant that it was from another country.

It was only when rescuers decided to give the animal a wash that they found out orange wasn't its natural colour.

After being bathed in hot water and soap, it became apparent that the bird had white feathers.

The 'bright orange' bird was spotted on the A41 near the motorway in 2019 (Tiggywinkles)

Vets then came to the conclusion that it was a seagull and 'had somehow gotten himself covered in curry or turmeric.'

"We have no idea how he got into this predicament but thankfully, apart from the vibrant colour and pungent smell, he was healthy," Tiggywinkles Hospital said on Facebook at the time.

"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.

Vets realised that Vinny wasn't as 'exotic' as they thought (Tiggywinkles)

"This is one of the strangest casualty circumstances we have seen in a while."

The most likely scenario is that the bird, nicknamed Vinny after a vindaloo, took a dip in some curry water before he jetted off.

We can only hope that there were no plans to cook it. No one wants to see seagull tikka masala on the specials menu.

"Our veterinary team bravely bathed the gull to clean off his feathers," Tiggywinkles added.

"He managed to cover them in curry water but eventually did let us scrub him clean.

Vinny without a curry-coloured tan (Tiggywinkles)

"He is now looking much better and should be able to go for release very soon."

A picture of Vinny has resurfaced on social media and people have joked that 'it’s the bird version of a fake tan.'

Another person quipped: "Seems like the people who found him got too 'curried away' to check for sure."

"Seagul works part time at a takeaway. Times are though man," a third added.

"That's tragic but honestly seagulls are the maniacs of the air, it probably tried to steal some curry stuff and got soaked instead," someone else thought.