A seagull that found itself in a precarious situation after hurricane force winds blew it into a fence at Stephenville airport has survived with the help of some local people.
Ian Stokes said he and Craig Saunders noticed the bird stuck in the fence at close to 1 p.m. today while driving along on Massachusetts Drive just outside the airport property.
“At first I thought it was dead but then seen its head move,” Stokes said.
Shortly after he stopped to try and help the seagull, along came Lorraine Gaudet, a weather observer at Stephenville airport and the two, with gloves on, tried to free it from its entrapment but to no avail.
Gaudet got in contact with Francis Russell, senior refueller and maintenance at Stephenville airport, and he came along on the airport side of the fence to lend assistance.
Stokes said he don’t know how it happened but just a minute or so after Russell came along the bird was free and came through the fence on the airport side.
He said Russell took it to the back of the truck with the plan to have it euthanized, but it ended up flying away after regaining its composure.
Robin Hiscock, a weather observer at Stephenville airport, said gusts at the time of the incident were about 64 knots (which translates to about 118 kph), which is equal to a Category 1 hurricane force wind.
He said the sustained wind speed at the time was equal to a violent storm category.
