A seagull which got stuck on an aerial on a roof in Hove was rescued by firefighters this morning -but sadly did not survive its injuries.
A crew from Hove used its aerial ladder to free the gull from the roof in St Leonard’s Avenue, at about 9am.
But the RSPCA, which called firefighters after being alerted by concerned residents, had to put the bird to sleep because it was too badly hurt.
RSPCA inspector Tony Woodley said: “We were called by several members of the public who spotted a gull that had become stuck on a TV aerial on the roof of a two-storey property on St Leonard’s Avenue in Hove this morning.
“Because of how high the aerial was I contacted East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to ask if they would be available to assist me with the rescue and they kindly came out with the Aerial Ladder Platform.
“When we got up there we found that the poor gull’s right wing was severely impaled on the TV aerial leaving him with bad fractures to his wing and a very nasty wound.
“Sadly, because of the severity of the injuries the gull had sustained he was put to sleep at the scene.
“Had he been left there is no way he would’ve been able to free himself and the gull would’ve suffered a long and suffering death.
“Thanks to the members of the public that contacted us and to the great teamwork with East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service we were able to relieve his suffering.”
A spokeswoman for East Sussex Fire and Rescue said: “We were called to St Leonard’s Avenue by the RSPCA.
“It appeared a seagull was stuck on an aerial. We rescued the gull using the aerial ladder platform and handed it over to the RSPCA.”
