Janepie33 Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Had a phone call from DD to say that she and a friend had rescued a baby seagull. They brought it home wrapped in a towel and placed it in the spare plastic guinea pig cage I had prepared earlier. The girls promptly went out left OH and me to babysit. Gull has consumed a packet of cat food and spilt some water and it doesn't look as cross as it did. All the advice I have read seems to suggest that they should have left it were it was and the parents would feed it, but it is here now. DD intends to look after it until it can fly - it is rather big, with just a little bit of baby fluff, but not quite enough feather to fly yet. No wildlife places want it and local vets have offered to kill it - for a fee! Any advice or suggestions about what to do with this unexpected visitor would be very gratefully received! Shame we don't have a spare Eglu! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Just wondering how she will teach it to fly we had same experience when we pulled a baby squirrel out of kitchen ceiling. Vet hospital said we should have left it there. Great so it can chew the wires. No advice could u put it back and hope ma or pa comes back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 I would take it back and watch for parents, Don't know about teaching it to fly,is that inbuilt. Friend rescued adult seagull she fed it sardines and gave it paddling pool to splash in and it was able to fly away in few days. What about RSPB any help from them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Personally I'd take it back to where it was found in the hope that Mum and Dad will take over. However, I have heard that once there is a different smell on a young animal/bird then the parents 'disown' it; also, if the parents don't go back for it fairly soon then it will be vulnerable to any predators. You could try the RSPCA but I think gull come pretty far down the pecking order (sorry ) so they probably won't be as interested as if you had found a rarer bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janepie33 Posted July 8, 2017 Author Share Posted July 8, 2017 Thanks everyone. After some advice from a lovely man at the local swan sanctuary, we are going to take it back to where it was found and attempt to put it back somewhere high so the parents can find it. I don't think they have much of a sense of smell, so that won't be a problem and it seems that gull are some of the best bird parents. We have a 48 hour window to return it as the parents will still be looking for it. will let you know how it turns out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Any news? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 there's a report on the BBC red button news about seagull chicks a rescue center in Somerset has rescued nearly 200 chicks this year that have fallen of baking hot roofs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janepie33 Posted July 9, 2017 Author Share Posted July 9, 2017 Happy ending. We hope! Drove back to where we found baby and right next to the road there was a perfect flat roof to pop it on. Checked with the owner it was OK then got out the ladder ready for DD to pass the baby to OH to release. What was encouraging was seeing 2 gull circling above when we arrived . The baby might have spotted them as it called out a couple of times. Unfortunately 2 magpies arrived on the scene and eyed up the baby who was quite a bit bigger than them! As the parents still hadn't come down we decided to leave as we thought our presence was bothering them. The parents disappeared for a bit but then in the distance we spotted 5 gulls circling . Reinforcements! We left feeling hopeful that the little family would be reunited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Really pleased for you and young gull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 Glad you returned it and there were gulls around when you did. We've had two brought into the clinic this week which had to be put to sleep. Really they should be left with their parents as vets don't have the facilities to hand rear baby birds ...and gulls can be quite aggressive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
