Introduction

Since 1979, Wildlife Rescue Association of BC (WRA) has worked to mitigate the impact of the many challenges facing wildlife in urban areas. Their team of professional wildlife rehabilitators and volunteers provide temporary refuge and care for injured birds, and other wildlife, treating close to 5,000 animals each year.

VARC bands many of the rehabbed birds ready for release. Each bird receives a federal band with a unique number which allows the identification of the bird if it is ever sighted or recovered in the future, providing valuable information to WRA about the life history and survival of rehabilitated birds.

One such story was this Glaucous-winged Gull which had swallowed a skewer which presumably had chicken or some other meat on it, and in the process of trying to regurgitate it managed to drive the skewer though its throat!

The WRA team managed to successfully remove the skewer and rehab the gull. X-ray images below show  the positioning of the skewer (even though the gull almost removed it on its own!). The following two images are the before and after radiographs. If you look closely enough you can see all the scar tissue it caused.

The skill of the registered veterinary technicians at WRA to do this procedure was quite incredible and the image right shows the banded gull ready for release.