Animal rescue efforts which lasted more than 24 hours and included three different organisations ended in sadness yesterday when a juvenile gull died in an RSPCA worker's hands.
The gull had its left foot stuck in netting on the roof of Vinings Warehouse for more than a day.
It was first reported stuck at 11am on Tuesday morning by Docks caretaker Bernie Smith. According to Bernie his first call was to the RSPCA, followed by a second call to the fire service.
A team attended the scene to release the bird at 1pm, but it was deemed too unsafe to put a ladder up against the side of the building.
They were also unable to manoeuvre a fire engine around to the side of the building where the gull was trapped because of the tight space by the side of the Vinings restaurant.
It was then down to RSPCA animal collection officer Thea Kerrison to attempt her own rescue mission on Tuesday night at about 10pm.
She headed to a top-floor flat to see if she could reach the bird, to find the window only opened inwards and she couldn't reach.
But thanks to Bernie, another rescue mission was launched this morning.
He put in a call to his friends at plant hire company Ermin asking if they would mind donating a cherry picker for a 'mercy mission'.
After a quick demonstration Bernie carried out the rescue mission, successfully freeing the bird.
But within minutes of passing the gull into the arms of the waiting RSPCA officer Thea, the bird died.
"It was probably the shock and trauma of the situation," explained Thea. "A big thank you to Bernie for everything he did to get this bird down and it's just a shame that it had a sad ending."
