Here is a lovely Gull story from a new correspondent, Lady Helen Doherty from Bexhill, East Sussex. Pic and article: Lady Helen Doherty – Bexhill
Slightly the Seagull is an unreleasable seagull that has been saved by Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Rescue.
On one of the many wildlife emergency calls that Chris Tucker of Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Rescue recieved, he was told about a seagull that was strolling across Ravenside shopping centre car park and a driver didn’t stop and hit and injured it. He picked the seagull up and named her Slightly after one of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan.
Mr Tucker arranged to for the local RSPCA branch to take Slightly, so that they could release her, after a vet check up. He did notice that one of the seagull’s wings was slightly dropped.
South Coast Vets in Bexhill checked Slightly over and gave Mr Tucker some surprising news. She had treated the seagull for the injury received from the car, but found that the gull may not be able to fly again from a previous injury. She asked Mr Tucker whether he wanted to have her put down.
Chris Tucker explains: “we at rescue love this gull and are so glad she was handed to us, not handed over to others who would have has her killed if she could not be released…what a tragedy and betrayal of this animal who survived against all the odds, that would have been”
For Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Rescue that is never an option and the vet appeared relieved and happy that this gull would be given a chance. She was talking to a rescue that values all life – every animal is an individual with a unique life.
It turned out that Mr Tucker had received calls about this gull before. She had been surviving without being able to fly by hanging around Burger King and the Burger van and people had been feeding her. Mr Tucker had gone to look for her unsuccessfully on a couple of occasions.
The Lost Boy Slightly had found her Peter Pan.
Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Rescue helps many other unreleasable animals and birds deemed as lost causes or disabled, that other well known wildlife welfare and organisations would kill, ranging from gulls to squirrels and corvids to foxes. They are a vital wildlife lifeline for the nature of the South Coast.
To find out more about Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Rescue, visit:https://www.facebook.com/Bexhill.And.Hastings.Wildlife.Rescue
