The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Dramatic rooftop rescue for tangled gull
It makes a change from rescuing cats from trees – and is a far cry from their “real” job of saving people from burning buildings – but, this week, the fire brigade was on hand to help disentangle a gull trapped in netting on an Inverness building in a 40ft rooftop rescue.
The Scottish SPCA animal welfare charity was alerted after the gull was spotted in distress trapped on top of a building owned by Environmental Reclamation Services Ltd, on the city’s Henderson Drive. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service sent specialist height equipment to help rescue the bird after being alerted by the Scottish SPCA.
A Scottish SPCA Animal Rescue Officer was then hoisted 40ft high into the air in an attempt to free the bird from its plight.
Animal Rescue Officer Sally Fraser said: “I arrived just before 9am to take a look and could see that the gull was in distress but the building was far too high for me to access.”
“When Senior Inspector Andy Brown arrived on the scene to help assess the situation, the decision was taken to call the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for help.
“They were quickly on the scene and were very happy to assist with the rescue.
“They kindly let me go up on the cherry picker to help rescue the gull that was clearly stuck between the netting.
“I took some scissors and gently cut the netting away from the bird. I then quickly and safely put it in the box and returned to the ground. Once on the ground I checked the bird over for injury but it was fine and looked very healthy.
“I was happy to release the animal and it flew off quite the thing.
“I was overwhelmed with how nice the fire team were. I’m quite happy with heights and was only thinking of getting the bird to safety.
“Although some people might think ‘it’s only a gull’, the Scottish SPCA rescue all types of birds and we are really pleased we were able to help in this case.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to the fire service. They were absolutely fantastic.”
“I was happy to release the animal, it flew off quite the thing”