Into the water
Bertus Goudriaan didn’t deliberate long. He spotted the gull, saw what was wrong, and acted — wading into the canal, navigating through the water plants that grabbed at his legs, and making his way toward the bird.
The gull, understandably, was not cooperative.
“I got a bite from her,” Goudriaan wrote on Facebook afterward. “And the people applauded!”
He freed her anyway. And as the gull flew off and Goudriaan made his way back to shore, the crowd that had been watching from a distance broke into applause.
Just duty
When people called him a hero, Goudriaan was quick to push back.
“I’d like to mention that this doesn’t feel like a heroic act,” he wrote. “For me, it’s just duty. When humans or animals are in distress, it’s very normal for me to lend a helping hand. This is not my first case, and it certainly won’t be my last when needed.”
He also noted, with characteristic good humor, that the water plants had nearly gotten the better of him — making swimming “a bit difficult.” But he was glad he did it.
A gull tangled in plastic, a canal full of onlookers, and one person who decided that watching wasn’t enough. Sometimes that’s all it takes — someone willing to get wet.