Donna
I'm Falcon Crazy
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« on: 20-Jan-10, 07:03:06 AM » |
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REHOBOTH BEACH -- While searching for an easy meal in the refuse behind a restaurant, a sea gull had the misfortune of falling into a vat of vegetable oil.
Although he managed to scramble out of the unintentional man-made trap, the substance clung to his wings, inhibiting flight and causing his feathers to lose waterproofing.
"If no one had found him, he wouldn't have made it," said Laura Lariviere, a veterinarian at the Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Center in Newark.
His wings bound by the gummy oil and his feathers unable to protect him from sub-freezing temperatures, Lariviere said the bird, a 3-year-old great black-backed gull, would have died of starvation or hypothermia.
But as the young gull waddled along the side of the road in Oak Orchard on New Year's Day, he crossed paths with Kelly Bell.
"I was heading to work, walking to my car, when I saw him," she said.
Frightened and cold, the gull scampered ahead as Bell pursued him. He flapped his wings once, twice, but could not lift himself off the ground.
"When he didn't fly away from me, I knew something was wrong," Bell said. "I figured he had a broken wing, though he didn't act like he was in pain."
He held his wings to his chest as his pursuer caught up to him and lifted him up into her arms. The gull struggled, then tumbled back onto the blacktop.
"He was probably very scared," said Paulette Derkach, a volunteer who was tasked with his release.
But after another failed attempt at capture, the gull relented. Bell took him to her grandmother's house, fed him some bread crumbs and called the shelter.
Once there, Lariviere said the gull was put on IV fluids to treat his dehydration, given antibiotics for internal parasites and, eventually, fed solid food. He was malnourished at 1,400 grams, compared to the average of 1,650 for a gull of his age.
"It was clear he had a bad time," she said. "He wasn't able to do bird things."
And his predicament is more common than most people would think, Lariviere said.
"We see about six or so of these a year," she said. "Sometimes, when these guys go to restaurants, they'll get into oil vats or Dumpsters and end up with that stuff all over them."
After a few days, the gull's feathers were thoroughly washed using dish detergent.
"We waited so that we could get him better rehydrated and recheck the blood work," Lariviere said.
After two weeks of recuperation, she said the shelter determined he was healthy enough to be returned to the beach.
"We always release (birds) within 10 miles from where they're found," Lariviere said. "Ideally, with other gulls nearby."
Derkach collected the gull from the shelter in a box with triangles punched into the side for air.
"He was really antsy to get out," she said, noting that the bird had managed to break the masking tape that secured the top of the box.
Gathered on Rehoboth Beach, Bell and Derkach opened the box together and watched as the gull flew off over the ocean, his wings -- now unencumbered by cooking oil -- pumping as he disappeared into the sky.
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