Posted - Wednesday, March 06, 2013 10:36 AM EST
This herring gull is on the mend after someone wrapped a
beer can around its neck. 'Whoever did this is sick,' says Maya Totman,
director of Florida Keys Wildlife Rescue.
More than a decade of working to help injured animals in Monroe County
Totman arrived to find a herring gull and brown pelican
weak and struggling, with deliberately cut and shaped aluminum cans of Busch
Light beer shoved over their beaks and heads, then wrapped tightly around the
birds' necks like tight collars.
The previous day, Totman and some fellow volunteers
responded to the same location to treat an adult male osprey that had been shot
with two BBs from an air-powered gun.
"I have seen so many different injuries in different
type[s] of wildlife but nothing like this," Totman said. "This is
shocking," she said. "It was done intentional. I'm sick about it.
This is something outrageous. Whoever did this, they need some help --
completely inhumane. The poor birds were choking."
The gull was found at a campsite and the pelican nearby
next to a fish-cleaning table. Fishing Lodge guest Greg Vogel cut the cans off
both birds' necks with his Swiss Army knife.
The gull's head was forced through the can, but Vogel said
the other can was modified to fit over the pelican's larger head.
"Somebody must have thought about this for
awhile," Vogel said. "The can had a little bent clip so it could be
wrapped around the pelican's neck."
But now, after a steady diet of nutrient-laden pureed
grouper mixed with filtered water, the gull is set for release back into the
wild as early as Friday, Totman said.
This herring gull is on the mend after someone wrapped a
beer can around its neck. 'Whoever did this is sick,' says Maya Totman,
director of Florida Keys Wildlife Rescue.
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