The seven second clip has racked up 400,000 views on the social media platform TikTok and made quite a star of six-year-old Ralph Layfield.

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The shocking moment was captured by Ralph's mum, Melissa Lomax, on her phone while they were enjoying a day out at Blackpool Pleasure Beach to celebrate his big brother Riley's 11th birthday.

The moment the hungry seagull swoops down and clamps its huge beak around the hotdog just as Ralph Layfield (six) takes his first bite

Melissa said: "It all happened really quickly. I asked Ralph to stand in front of the Big Dipper for a photo and the seagull appeared from nowhere and the hot dog was gone!

"I screamed when it happened and wasn’t much help to Ralph to be honest.”

Moments earlier another seagull had dive bombed Riley’s pal Harvey, and stolen the burger he was about to tuck into.

Melissa added: “We were sat at a table when that happened so we moved away and went to get the hot dog for Ralph.”

Poor Ralph Layfield is not match for the hungry seagull that stole his hotdog at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

None the worse for his close encounter with the feathered thief, Ralph, who goes to Rosewood Primary School in Burnley, was treated to a free hot dog at the funfair by the food vendor when he heard what had happened.

And that time Ralph ate his lunch undercover.

Burnley mum's video capturing moment a hungry seagull snatches hotdog from her little boy at Blackpool Pleasure Beach goes viral