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Rangers use pliers to extract the hook from the seagull

AN ANONYMOUS animal-lover saved the life of a sorry seagull on Friday.

The bewildered bird had one fish hook piercing its beak and one caught in its wing, and had become caught in the branch of a yew tree near the Environment Centre in Holywell Mead, High Wycombe.

A member of the public spotted the creature in distress, and ran into the centre to alert staff.

Trustee Frances Alexander immediately called in rangers for help.

She said: "It was like an execution, with the bird just hanging there."

The 71-year-old, from Chestnut Avenue in High Wycombe, added: "Every now and then it fluttered its wings, but any movement would hurt its beak. If you touched the branch, it flinched in pain. It was very much alive, but it knew that the best way to avoid pain was just to hang limp."

A ranger arrived at the site within ten minutes to begin a rescue operation. As the tree branch was sawed off, the bird fell into the water below, but was pulled out and held by the ranger during the difficult procedure of extracting the hook from its beak with a pair of snipe-nosed pliers.

Mrs Alexander said: "It was sweet because it seemed to appreciate that we were trying to help.

"It didn't fight against us. When the hook had been removed, we let go and the bird simply flew away into the air."

But in all the commotion, the seagull's good Samaritan disappeared just as quickly, and his identity is still unknown.

The broken yew branch that had trapped the unlucky gull has been on display in the Environment Centre all of this week for The Big Draw, which has attracted more than 100 artistic animal-lovers a day to the centre.

10:31am Thursday 25th October 2007

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