Shutterbug Walkabouts Tasmania

I helped to save a gull recently - not this one though. I was sifting through my photos when I came across this one and found myself reflecting on my feel-good gull-rescue moment.

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Wandering along a beach with Roy and a couple of friends, I noticed a fisherman struggling with a gull that had become tangled in the line he'd cast - all because there was a tempting piece of deliciousness attached to a hook at the end of the line.

Upon first inspection we weren't sure if the hook had snagged the gull... thankfully though, it hadn't. However, the line had wrapped around the bird several times with the hooked bait wedged awkwardly under one wing - it was the chunky piece of bait that actually saved the hook from snagging the gull, which it it had, it would definitely have caused considerable injury to the gull.

While the fisherman held the rod keeping tension on the line, I covered the gull's eyes and beak with a cloth and held his wings in gently and picked him up. We inspected what had happened and worked out that the line could be cut away from the hook and the simply unwound from around his body.

It wasn't long before the gull flew up up and way - just not before giving me a small peck on the hand, which I’m choosing to believe that was his way of saying thank you.

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