“She was skin and bones …”
For Cintika and her family, the backyard of their home on the Belgian coast has become a safe place for local birds.
The family regularly puts out food for birds that visit the garden, but over time, they have also found themselves helping animals that need more than a meal.
“Sick pigeons have sometimes come here, and we’ve taken care of them,” Cintika said. “In the spring, we also looked after a young crow for about a week until it learned to fly properly.”
Because the birds frequently find food in the family’s yard, Cintika believes many of them have learned that it is a safe place to visit.
Recently, however, one visitor arrived with a serious problem.
While looking out the window, Cintika and her husband noticed a seagull having difficulty eating. At first, they were unsure what was wrong, but then they spotted something caught around the bird’s bill.
A plastic ring had become trapped around her mouth, making it difficult for her to eat and move normally.
The couple immediately tried to find a way to help. Their first attempt involved dropping a blanket from an upstairs window in the hope of safely catching the bird, but the plan did not work.
They soon realized that the seagull was struggling to move quickly. Cintika kept the bird distracted while her husband carefully approached from behind.
He managed to catch the seagull, giving Cintika the opportunity to remove the plastic.
She carefully cut the ring away from the bird’s bill and finally freed her.
The object turned out to be a plastic ring from the cap of a large water container.
Fortunately, the seagull appeared to have escaped serious injury.
“She seemed fine afterward,” Cintika said. “In fact, she was very quick to peck me!”
Once the plastic was removed, the bird immediately returned to what she had been trying to do in the first place: eat.
She finished the piece of food she had been holding before the couple released her. Moments later, she flew away.
Cintika later went to a nearby beach in the hope of finding the seagull again, but there were too many birds for her to identify the one she had rescued.
Even so, the experience left her with an important message she hopes others will take seriously.
Plastic waste can become dangerous when it is left in places where wildlife can encounter it. Items that may seem harmless to people can become traps for birds and other animals searching for food.
Cintika hopes the seagull’s experience will encourage people to think more carefully about where they leave their rubbish.
“I’d like people to become more aware that they shouldn’t litter anywhere, especially in nature and on beaches,” she said.
For one seagull, a simple visit to a family’s backyard ended with an unexpected rescue — and a second chance to fly free.