Seagull released back into wild after ‘horrific’ injury from wooden barbecue skewer

A seagull rescued by a wildlife organization after swallowing a wooden barbecue skewer has been released back into the wild at White Rock pier.

A carelessly discarded wooden barbecue skewer seriously injured a seagull in White Rock, B.C., according to a wildlife rescue, which is urging people to be more careful with their garbage.

The Glaucous-winged gull was spotted earlier this month on the popular White Rock Pier with the “unusual impalement” piercing its neck, the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. said in a statement Sunday, the day before the bird was released back into the wild.

Emma Robson, with the rescue, said the gull had swallowed the six-inch skewer completely and then regurgitated it.

“It missed his trachea by just a couple millimetres,” she told CTV News Monday. “He’s a very lucky bird, and the removal process was actually quite easy.”

The bird likely swallowed the skewer while scavenging in the trash for food scraps, Robson added.

The gull was still able to fly with the skewer protruding from its neck, complicating the rescue effort.

“We were trying to capture him for a couple days,” Robson said, adding that a trained volunteer used “leg lines” which were buried in the sand and briefly tied around the birds lower limbs.

Once at the rescue, the removal of the skewer was relatively easy because there was no organ damage, according to the organization’s executive director Coleen Doucette.

“We were able to just clean the wound, watch it closely, put the birds on antibiotics and pain medication, set it a diet that was very soft and kept a close eye on it until it healed,” she said.

This rescue marks the second time in two years the rescue has taken in a gull injured in these circumstances and should serve as a reminder about the importance of disposing of items that could harm animals carefully.

Monday’s release was successful, after the gull took some time to survey his surroundings and fluff up his feathers.

The organization encourages anyone who sees an animal in distress to report it online.