Man Who Decapitated Seagull That Tried To Steal French Fry From His Daughter Jailed For 8 Months

A New Jersey man has been jailed for 262 days for decapitating a seagull that tried to take a French fry from his daughter in July 2024.

Franklin Ziegler, 30, grabbed the bird and tore its head off with his bare hands in front of horrified witnesses at Morey’s Piers in North Wildwood, NJ.

After the act, Ziegler reportedly asked a boardwalk staff member for a bin bag while still holding the headless bird.

Ziegler pleaded guilty to third-degree animal cruelty, and aside from the 8-month sentence, was sentenced to five years of recovery court probation and ordered to pay approximately $250 in fines and fees.

Animal rights groups have condemned the sentence as a “slap on the wrist.”

Doll Stanley, the senior campaigner for In Defense of Animals’ Justice, told the NY Post: “This was a brutal act of torture committed in broad daylight in front of children.”

“It is extremely disappointing that while the FBI recognizes the link between domestic violence and animal cruelty, and Ziegler embodies this risk, Cape May County Court has failed to protect community members of all species.”

Indeed, Ziegler was previously charged with separate counts of aggravated assault and criminal restraint in a 2024 domestic violence incident. So he’s a woman beater and a bird decapitator – just a swell guy overall.

Incredibly, the courts decided that Ziegler had already served the 262-day sentence for decapitating the bird, because it was credited as time already served under the stint he served for domestic violence between the seagull incident and his sentencing. How the hell did they work that one out?

It’s no surprise that animal rights groups are fuming with the sentence because technically it sounds like he’s got away with it. Let’s hope all the other seagulls in New Jersey sh1t on him endlessly and that he never knows a moment’s peace. I mean, clearly the guy has never watched The Lighthouse.

Still, at least his daughter enjoyed that one extra fry.

For the Sunderland man who captured an injured seagull and ‘pleasured himself’ all over it, click HERE. Diabolical.