Injured seagull - advice?

[Okaygoahead]

I am visiting in the UK, currently in Bath. There is an injured seagull in the parking lot of DC’s student residence. It has apparently been there for a few days and now looks as though it might have been attacked by a cat or something as it has a bit of blood on it. We were hoping there’d be a local animal rescue service but RSPCA etc don’t seem to be able to pick it up and we have no car. Does anyone have any advice?

A vet might come out to dispatch it humanely.

And don’t touch it - there’s avian flu going around.

https://www.secretworld.org/

They may give you advice but as PP said they are constrained by the Avian Flu outbreak.

Try phoning the local 24 hour vet hospital: www.bathvetgroup.co.uk/about-us/practices/rosemary-lodge

They ought to be able to tell you whether a local bird rescue organisation helps with seagulls and, if so, arrange for somebody to attempt to catch it.

I seem to remember that the local wildlife rescue centre is quite some distance away.

Called Secret World and followed their advice - we put on gloves, wrapped it in a towel, put it in a box and carried it 15 minutes to a vet, who put it to sleep. Better than leaving it to suffer longer (both wings were broken and it was very weak). Thanks for your tips everyone.

I'm glad you were able to help this seagull - although probably it wasn't the outcome you wanted.

Thank goodness for compassionate people like you!

I’m glad you were able to help.

unfortunately there is rarely proper help available for wild birds and even if there was, the chances of recovery are probably quite small

Well done for not just leaving it, that was the best humane outcome. For future reference, if anyone else finds themselves in this situation, it’s often a good idea to find the local Facebook page for the area you’re in and post on there asking who can help. Where I am we have a couple of small rescues, and people associated with them, who are dedicated to exactly this sort of situation. They tend to have a network of people they know who can get to animals in need pretty quickly, and they are called out with regularity - mostly via a Facebook post. They’re just private individuals though, not businesses and so they don’t advertise and you’d probably not find them in a Google search but locals know who they are and how to contact them. I’m sure this is true in a lot of areas, so always worth a try if you can’t find a vet/RSPCA who will attend.

@Okaygoahead

well done for noticing it & doing the compassionate thing!!

poor wee bird.