It all began with a glance skyward.
Earlier this week, Lucinda Chrisman was walking along the shoreline near her home in Santa Cruz, California, when she noticed a man on the beach looking up intently at some tall trees. Curious, Chrisman looked up, too.
And that’s when she spotted it.
“I saw this bird above me,” Chrisman told The Dodo. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s terrible. That bird's caught. What are we going to do?’”
The bird, a gull, had evidently flown into what appeared to be an abandoned kite string and was now tangled about 40 feet above the ground.
“It was a real shock to see,” Chrisman said. “I couldn't move from that spot. I just felt like there must have been a reason I chose to go this way today. That bird needed somebody to advocate for it.”
Chrisman and the other person who’d noticed the trapped bird discussed how they might help. Climbing the tree to cut the string seemed too dangerous.
“I thought, ‘I need to report this,’” Chrisman said. “‘I need somebody else to get on the scene. We need someone with a ladder.’ It hurt every sensibility to see that poor thing suffering.”
Chrisman called Native Animal Rescue of Santa Cruz County for help and was soon informed that the fire department and an arborist would be arriving at the scene.
On the beach, rescuers brainstormed ways to reach the gull, even attempting to cast a fishing line toward the tangled string. But nothing worked. The decision was made to bring in a ladder truck.
By then, bringing the gull to safety was a community priority.
“Apparently, that bird has a lot of fans,” a rescue worker told Chrisman. “People are rooting for this bird.”
And their efforts paid off.
Once on the ground, the bird’s predicament was clear. The line had wrapped tightly around her wing. But now she was in good hands.
“I was just very, very grateful that everybody was willing to come out and participate,” Chrisman said.
The gull was placed under the care of Native Animal Rescue of Santa Cruz County, where she is currently recovering.
That glance upward on Chrisman’s walk led to a second chance for a bird in need.
“It was really rewarding,” Chrisman said. “I’m glad it had a happy ending.”
