I live in the hills of south west kerry.
I have just rescued a gannet on the beach. Was being attacked by dogs. Seems okay but possibly wrong with its wing. I have kept human interaction to a minimum, and hes resting out the back of the house now. Bought some fresh fish and left it for him, but he doesnt seem too interested.
Dont want to take him to the local vet down here as I think he wouldnt have a clue, probably say to throw him straight back in the water.
Not sure what to do next?
Linds
10.10pm. Hi Linds......I can undertstand your concern for the Gannet poor wee thing, it must be so scared.
Is there not a Wildlife Sanctuary or any Animal Rescue people (RSPCA) you could call. Maybe your local Police Station would have addresses/phone numbers?
Good Luck and let me know how you get on.
"Birds of a Feather".... ~( :o )
Hi Lindsay,
As the RSPB is a conservation charity welfare isn't really our areas of knowhow, but if the bird is injured it will need to be referred to an expert rehabilitator. Given your location i would recommend contacting the ISPCA, Tel: 048 9081 42 42.
Their website also has lots of info on all sorts of welfare organisations in southern Ireland that should be able to help: www.ispca.ie
Hope thats helps!
Lloyd
Hi Linds
How did you get on with the Gannet? Did it survive?
Take care
Hi Maureen,
the gannet is fine. We got hold of a guy further up country who has taken in and rereleased a few birds. He checked it out and suspects that it was just exhausted by a storm and had strained its wings. We have been resting it up and I think it is almost ready to be released again. However the weather here is even worse than the storm that caught the gannet in the first place so we might leave it until monday.
We've called him squirt because hes (ironically) quite big, and also he keeps squirting all over our utility room. We also figured out how to feed him: we needed fish with a head and tail and then you wiggle it on the floor to make it seem alive.
If you remind me Ill put a link to some video. In the mean time I've got to tend to the jack russell who got a nasty nip on his eye when he went to sniff the gannett.
thanks for the help,
I called the ispca and that led me on a chain off telephone calls to find a local guy who knew a bit about gannets.
Great news Linds...I am so glad the Gannet is OK. You now have a friend for life :o ) As for Jack Russell, that's what he/she gets for being nosy.
Oh I do like a happy ending :)
My friend and I (when we were about 12) rescued a Fulmer from the beach on Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. It was exhaused and was lying on the beach and a thug was allowing his dog to torment it. I wrapped it in my jacket (it was too tired to argue) and we took it to my friends house as she had a horse in a field at the back of her house. We put it in an upended box and gave it food and water. It stayed there for about 5 days and then one morning it was off. It was such a friendly wee thing, probably just grateful, and I'll never forget him / her. My parents incidentally thought I was mad and were less than impressed at the state of my jacket!
Make the most of today because, unlike Sky+, there isn't a rewind button.
its got to be said that my girlfriend is the real hero. Im was just hunting around the internet for her to find some help. Ive only been with her a few months and already we've rescued a chicken, a stray dog, and now this gannet. We were on the verge of heading up to Trallee to help out with the whales you may have heard got stranded there.
So here's to many more animal rescues to come :)
Have you kept the chicken to have eggs for breakfast???
Have you kept the wee dog as company for Jack Russell (what's its name)???
Hope you don't have plans to keep a whale!!!!!!
Wouldn't it be wonderful to win the lottery and buy enough land to have loads of animals????
Hope the Gannet is well.
My partner were on holiday in Harris recently and came upon a young gannet on the road - my partner attempted to rescue it but it bit his finger (a trip to Stornoway A&E for tetanus took care of that). Eventually he managed to lift it holding its beak and put it back in the water where it just floated away quite happy though this bird was not injured.