Gull pierced by a barbecue skewer is released in B.C. after wildlife centre’s care

Wildlife Rescue Association volunteer Anneka Vanderpas releases a rehabilitated glaucous-winged gull in White Rock, B.C., on Monday, July 28, 2025. The bird was captured by rescue volunteers in early July and taken for recovery after a severe injury caused by a wooden barbecue skewer that pierced through its neck. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

WHITE ROCK — A gull that was skewered with a discarded wooden barbecue stick that generated a flurry of phone calls to the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC has been released after rehabilitation.

Coleen Doucette, co-executive director with the wildlife rescue, says the glaucous-winged gull stood briefly at a pier in White Rock, B.C., before flying off.

Doucette says seeing the young bird leisurely spreading its wings into a “beautiful glide” brought their team a “tremendous amount of joy.”

The injured gull was spotted along White Rock’s beach with its unusual impalement earlier this month and Doucette says volunteers were able to capture the bird to bring it in for care.

She says a veterinary technician X-rayed the bird and was able to remove the skewer, which was a few millimetres away from its trachea.

Some antibiotics, pain medication and a soft diet helped the gull heal, but Doucette says it’s the second such injury in two years they’ve seen and people need to pay more attention to where they put their trash.

In the latest injury, Doucette says the skewer may have had food on it, and the gull tried to swallow the food, wooden stick and all.

“We’re very happy that he was successfully released today, and it really goes to show how important it is that people pick up all of their trash and dispose of it very carefully,” Doucette said Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July. 28, 2025.