Gulls with beer can collars being rescued

[AlisonL]

San Francisco

Beer-Collared Bird Freed This Weekend

Two of at least five seagulls have been saved

Those seagulls who were tortured with beer can collars continue to be found and rescued here in the Bay Area.

It happened again this weekend in San Francisco.  Someone befriended a seagull over the past few days near San Francisco State University giving it handouts.  They reached out to WildRescue for help.

The rescue was successful with the bird being caught and freed from the jagged beer can this weekend.

Rebecca Dmytryk with WildRescue said her job is not over yet.  She thinks there are several more birds out there with the cans around their neck.

Dmytryk says if the cans are not removed, the birds will eventually die.

There is a $6,0000 reward for information leading to an arrest for whoever tortured the birds in the first place.  Reports of beer collared birds go back to September. They have been spotted along the San Francisco Bay and down the coast to Half Moon Bay.

Sightings can be reported to a dedicated pager at (831) 429-2323 or emailed to rescue@wildrescue.org.

It's a federal crime to put these cans on the birds. According to WildRescue, nearly every wild bird is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The act, implemented in 1918, offers protection of migratory birds from being hunted, kept as pets, or sold. It was first used as a treaty between the U.S. and Britain, but later expanded to include Mexico, Japan and Russia.





http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/Beer-Collared-Bird-Freed-This-Weekend-111762134.html

I hope all the gulls affected will be rescued, and that the sicko or sickos who did this to the birds will be caught. 

[AlisonL]

Colchester, Essex

Another gull rescue:

Firefighters deploy their £500,000 aerial ladder... to rescue a SEAGULL caught up a tree

A seagull sparked a major rescue operation involving dozens of emergency service workers - after it became trapped 50 feet up a tree.

The bird - who has been dubbed 'Freed Willy' - was spotted in distress by car salesman Steve Candler who called the RSPCA.

But because of the bird's precarious position firefighters had to use their £500,000 aerial ladder platform to get to it.

However, before the rescue could start a busy road had to be closed to traffic so they could rescue 'Willy'.
Salesman Mr Candler said: 'I came in to open up and I could hear this horrible screaming noise, I could tell it was a bird and then I spotted him hanging there from a branch where it had got stuck.

'I was really expecting it to wrench its leg off to get free as there were other birds attacking it.

'The woman from the RSPCA turned up but there was no way of getting a normal ladder up that high. It was as high as a three-storey house so she decided to call in the firefighters.'
A lone officer from Essex Fire and Rescue Service initially came out to the scene in Colchester, Essex, but the decision was made to deploy the aerial ladder platform to get to the bird - something which is normally used to rescue people from burning buildings

A firefighter was able to free the seagull by cutting down the branch it was trapped on and placing him in a large box.
Mr Candler, 36, said: 'I was quite surprised with the extent of the operation that was put into place, but I was glad that they cared about something so small as I am a bird lover.

'I was surprised at the lengths they went to though. It's certainly very unusual to see a seagull trapped in a tree - I wonder if he had been drinking some Christmas brandy a bit early in the day?

'The main thing is that he got saved and it was a happy ending.'

After the rescue Willy was taken to a nearby animal sanctuary where it was checked over and released.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337434/Freed-Willy-Firefighters-rescue-bird-brained-seagull-trapped-TREE.html?ito=feeds-newsxml



I'm glad this story has a happy ending.

[e3forpresident]

tugs at my heart, the combined effort to rescue the least of god creatures, wonderful