You're A Naughty Gull ! Viral Selfie Captures Seagull Pilfering Lobster Roll From Local Professor

YORK, Maine (CBSLA) — An image posted on Twitter by a Southern California professor has gone viral.

Alicia Jessop, a Pepperdine University professor, was fulfilling a bucket list item of hers: eating a lobster roll in Maine.

She was taking a photo of the lobster roll when a seagull intervened. "All I knew is, I was out $21.50 and a lobster roll and I need to still get this lobster roll because I'm in Maine."

She managed to snap this image and shared it in a now viral Tweet.

Jessop wrote via Twitter:

On Sunday evening, Jessop spoke to CBS2/KCAL9's Brittney Hopper.

The picture was shared and commented and liked more than 200,000 times -- and Jessop can't believe it. She was hoping just a few friends would get a kick out of it.

"I've been a writer for eight years. I've saved orphans from the brink of starvation. I'm a published researcher," Jessop says, "but for an accidental photo of a seagull eating a lobster roll, [I'm now known.] It's pretty hilarious."

She was just trying to take a picture of the lobster roll next to the famous Nubble Lighthouse.  She thought it fell to the ground until she realized she'd been robbed. By a bird no less. Playing it safe, she decided to take her selfie near Fox's Lobster House instead.

A different restaurant in Maine heard about Jessop's plight, and is sending her six lobster rolls to her Thousand Oaks home.