Cornish Guardian
CORNWALL, U.K. — Seagulls trapped in antinesting nets on Newquay’s rooftops could be costing taxpayers up to £5,000 (about $8,000) a year in fire service call-outs, the Cornish Guardian can reveal.
Firefighters are being called on to scale buildings to release the birds roughly once every three weeks, at a cost of around £300 a time.
The statistics were disclosed by one of the town’s crew managers, Kevin Wheeldon, and Cornwall’s chief fire officer, Des Tidbury.
Mr Wheeldon said: “It’s a long-running joke that firefighters spend their time rescuing cats up trees but for us it’s more about rescuing seagulls trapped in netting.”
Gulls have a bad reputation in the resort but Mr Tidbury said it would be irresponsible to ignore the RSPCA’s requests for bird rescues, as animal-lovers could end up putting themselves at risk to save the creatures.
“Seagulls aren’t the most popular, but if one was flapping around on a roof in Newquay my guess is that someone would probably try to scale the building, maybe armed with a wooden ladder, and put themselves at serious risk,” he said.
“Our crews are trained, have rescue lines and harnesses and can be deployed in areas where your average man or woman can’t go.”
Jo Barr of the RSPCA said owners of buildings with bird-repellent netting or spikes had a responsibility to ensure animals weren’t hurt.
“In many instances the RSPCA is called out to free birds, but depending on the height and access there are times when we need help from the fire service.
“As well as preventing an animal suffering, these rescues provide them with reallife situations which can play a useful part in their training. It also prevents members of the public risking their lives to rescue the birds.”
Mr Tidbury said: “We have no plans to start charging [for animal rescues, as some other UK fire services are considering doing] but if we did we would go out to full consultation with the public.” A Freedom of Information request revealed firefighters had been called to rescue pet cats four times since 2009.
Mr Wheeldon said: “You never see a cat skeleton up a tree. They can almost always get down by themselves.”
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