Florida: Monroe County Sheriff's deputy rescues injured seagull found sitting in the middle of the highway

FLORIDA -- MCSO - Florida Keys posted on Facebook on April 21, 2016 ·

This gull was apparently not feeling well this morning. It was found sitting in the middle of the highway at the 12 mile marker by Deputy Josh Gordon.

He picked it up and drove it to the Key West Wildlife Rescue operation at Indigenous Park on White Street. You've done your good deed for the day, Josh!

Update: the gull reportedly had a broken leg and looked like it had been hit by a car, according to an update from the Wildlife Rescue Center. They say the prognosis is "fair" and they are monitoring him/her.

Dennis Reagle Cited For Killing Seagull He Says Was Attacking Daughter

PENNSYLVANIA -- A Pennsylvania man has been cited by New Jersey environmental officials in the death of a seagull on an Ocean City beach.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Bob Considine tells The Press of Atlantic City that 37-year-old Dennis Reagle, of Tarenttum, was issued a summons for possessing exotic or non-game wildlife without a permit.

Reagle told police that he hit the bird with a roll-up towel and broke its wing in July.

He says he was defending his 2-year-old daughter from the seagull, which was pecking at her face as she ate.

Police say Reagle told officers the bird died as he was on his way to a trash can.

Considine says a fine will be determined by municipal court.

It wasn’t known Wednesday if Reagle has an attorney.

(CBS Local - Sept 2, 2015)

Pet dog pecked to death by seagull in 'horrific' garden attack

UNITED KINGDOM -- A beloved pet dog has been pecked to death in a "horrific attack" by a ferocious seagull in Cornwall.

The eight-year-old Yorkshire terrier, called Roo, was attacked in the garden of his owner's home at St Columb Minor near Newquay.
 

 

The tiny dog received a wound to his head and brain damage during the attack by the Herring gulls, which swooped down from the roof and pecked at the tiny dog's head. They are believed to have been protecting their nest.
 

He was later put down after a vet decided he could not survive his wounds.

Roo's owner Emily Vincent now fears for the safety of her four children and her two other dogs, Maltese Terriers Millie and Louis.

Ms Vincent said: "Jace [my son] was with Roo in the garden and then all of a sudden Jace started screaming that Roo is bleeding.

"I ran into the kitchen and saw Roo lying on his side and there was blood everywhere. Roo had managed to run indoors and then collapsed. Blood was coming out of his head.

"It was like a murder scene. I couldn't get any sense out of Jace initially but then he kept saying the big bird has got sharp teeth.

"Roo was still breathing so we rushed him to the vets.  He was initially stable but he was not responding to anything the vets tried because of the brain damage, so he had to be put down. When we got back from the vets I wanted to take it further.

"I took pictures of the blood and contacted the council to find out what rights I had about getting rid of the nest. I could not get a straight answer from anyone but I was eventually told the seagulls are protected and that I must leave the nest alone.

"Jace has been totally traumatised and randomly bursts out crying.  I have not stopped crying and now I've reached the angry stage.  It could have been my child that was hurt and there is nothing I can do about it.

"My other two dogs are too scared to go into the garden and Jace is not himself. There should be more done to protect people and their pets.  Roo was like another child to me. The whole family is grieving. It has been horrific.  We will now not let the children or the dogs out in the garden unless we are with them."

Devon and Cornwall Police have warned that Herring gulls are a protected species, which includes the birds, their nests, eggs and chicks.

It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird or intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built, and intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird.

Wildlife Crimes Officer, PC Paul Freestone, said: "People need to be aware of the law. As soon as a gull lays down just a few bits of material to start a nest, that nest is protected."

It is the second time in weeks that gulls have killed pet dogs, with Nikki Wayne's Chihuahua Bella pecked to death in a garden in Honiton, Devon, in May.

(Telegraph UK - July 15, 2015)

Cat recovering after being found shot in New York

NEW YORK -- Early Tuesday morning Martha Passino and Randy LaBarge awoke to the sound of their cat crying. When they found their cat, Kloe, covered in blood, they rushed her to the Plattsburgh Animal Hospital.

“Every now and then she would let out a meow just to let us know she was still alive,” said Passino.
At first the couple thought their 1 1/2-year-old pet had been struck by a car, but an X-ray proved otherwise.

 

“When we took the X-ray you could see these white pieces or metal fragments of a high-velocity gunshot wound that would do that kind of thing. What it did was it just ripped right through and shattered the bone right in here,” said Dr. Joseph Church of the Plattsburgh Animal Hospital.

After tending to Kloe's pain and reducing her fever Dr. Joseph Church operated on the cat, unsure if he'd be able to save her leg.

An 8-inch pin was inserted in her broken limb along with about a dozen staples. When the husband and wife returned home they found another suffering animal.

A seagull which also sustained a gunshot wound was in their backyard.

“When it turned I could see it was dragging its wing and it was barely held on, and I said two and two together here. Luckily, the officer was coming to investigate the shooting of the cat,” said LaBarge. 

A state trooper euthanized the bird and proceeded to conduct numerous interviews around their Keeseville neighborhood.

 

“It is hard though because if it happens in the middle of the night and there's no witnesses and the cat or dog can't say anything, it's hard for them to track down but they do,” said Church.

Passino and LaBarge expect to pay more than $2,000 to help Kloe get back on her feet.

“Your first reaction is anger. You want to find whoever did this, and once you actually get the cat back being healthy and happy, all of that falls by the wayside and you're just happy to have the cat back,” said LaBarge.

(WCVB - April 23, 2015)

Bird call: Stuck gull over Shenango River rescued

PENNSYLVANIA -- Game protectors and firefighters found themselves working together unexpectedly just before noon Tuesday when a seagull got stuck in the branches of a tree over the Shenango River.
 
Tom Jones, a deputy wildlife conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, saw and heard the bird that was hanging upside down, held by one leg, screeching loudly in distress and flapping its wings.

 

  

  

He called Pat Cull, wildlife conservation officer for southern Mercer County, and the two of them soon saw that they couldn’t just climb the tree and try to help the gull.

The bird, about the size of a crow, was suspended over the river with a leg caught among twigs at the end of a sycamore tree branch.

Cull enlisted Sharon firefighters who arrived in the department’s ladder truck. They extended the boom so Cull, wearing leather welder’s gloves and stretched out on his stomach, could grab the gull, snap the pencil-thick twig and return to the ground to free its leg.

The bird continued to struggle, occasionally biting Cull’s fingers.

“Any time you dealing with a wild animal or a bird of that size it’s best to wear leather gloves because you don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said afterward. “He didn’t know if I was a predator or if I was there to help him. They’ll peck and grab whatever is close. It they could get an eyeball that would be good for them and maybe help them escape.”

Cull said it wasn’t clear how the bird had gotten trapped in the tree.

 

“We initially thought he got caught in some fishing line but there wasn’t any. Somehow, he got caught in the branches,” he said.

Cull spent a couple of minutes examining the bird to see if it was injured. He released it and the gull, apparently tired from its struggle, limping a little, took a minute or two to rest on the snowy ground, occasionally walking and trying its wings before it eventually flew away.

(Sharonherald - Feb 18, 2015)

Fisherman's (unlikely) friend: The unusual bond between a man and the seagull who followed him home from fishing trip

UNITED KINGDOM -- A fisherman has told how he befriended a seagull after it followed him home from a voyage.

Ron Ifield, 70, struck up an unlikely bond with the bird - which he has named 'Herbert' - when it landed on his boat during a fishing trip in the Thames estuary.

After handing him a scrap of fish the plucky herring gull then flew into Mr Ifield's cabin, sipped from his cup of tea and nestled up to him on his bunk.

The bird stayed with him for the entire day before following his ship back to port at Hoo Marina in Rochester, Kent, during the trip in July.

Amazingly, the gull then managed to search out the fisherman's family home, which is 400 yards away from the mooring site - and the pair have been friends ever since.

Mr Ifield said: 'I fed him with the odd bit of fish and he stayed on the boat for about four hours. He was hungry.

'He even went in the wheel house and got onto my bunk and started drinking my tea. I have been sailing for 40 years and I’ve never had anything like it before.

'I’ve no idea how he found our mobile home, its about 400 yards from my boat but as soon as he saw me by my home he started squeaking and recognised me. I have become attached to him. He is like a pet now.'

But their friendship has been tested, after Mr Ifield was forced to defend the gull from families complaining that he been attacked people and pets in the area.

Residents claim Herbert has swooped down to steal children’s sweets and has even attacked dogs in the neighbourhood.

Mr Ifield, who lives with wife Christine, has denied the claims.

(Daily Mail UK - Oct 19, 2012)