'It just put the warmth back in us,' Buffalo couple saves seagulls stuck in ice during blizzard

Record ID: 1704854

  • Title: 'It just put the warmth back in us,' Buffalo couple saves seagulls stuck in ice during blizzard
  • Date: 31st December 2022
  • Summary: BUFFALO, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 31, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEAMUS GALLIVAN, WHO SAVED SEAGULLS, SAYING: "I was... I was walking around with a shovel, looking for folks to dig out, and everything looked all right. So, I walked into the park to walk the dog and found a neighbor, who I'd never met, standing here, and standing over something I had no idea, but he was calling for help. I had no idea what it was. And we got close, you could see he was trying to dig out birds that were... seagulls were frozen into this. This was a complete sheet of ice and there were dozens of seagulls frozen into it, under it."
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2023 23:23
  • Keywords: Buffalo birds blizzard frozen rescue seagulls snowstorm
  • Location: BUFFALO, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: BUFFALO, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA002975731122022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOT: VIDEO CONTAINS IMAGES OF DEAD SEAGULLS IN SHOT 23
    A Buffalo couple, Alex McArthur and Seamus Gallivan, used a chisel and hammer to save 16 seagulls stuck in ice in LaSalle park on Lake Erie shore after a deadly snowstorm hit the city last weekend.
    "It was just trying to strategically go around that and chisel away ever so gently to make sure that, you know, we were freeing them without hurting them, hurting their wings or hurting their tails or their feet, because it would be one of those three things essentially that, you know, that was the reason why they were stuck in the first place," said McArthur.
    They had decided to wait out the blizzard at Gallivan's mother's Waterfront Village apartment.
    At some point, they lost power for 56 hours, and they thought it wasn't a big deal.
    So they decided to venture out to see if they could help their neighbors in any way.
    But everyone was okay, safely cooped up in their homes.
    As he was walking their dog Luna on the lake shore later that day, Gallivan saw his mother's neighbor trying to save a seagull, and he rushed to help.
    "This was a complete sheet of ice and there were dozens of seagulls frozen into it, under it," said Gallivan.
    McArthur joined the efforts soon after.
    They took one bird home in a box because its wings were frozen and kept it on their heated patio until it could fly again.
    "Seeing that one fly-off was just kind of like, I mean, it just put the warmth back in us that that we could be helpful and in such a just a desperate crisis," said Gallivan.
    The seagulls were stuck to the ice by their feet, wings, or tails
    Some looked better than others, but the couple hoped all of the birds would be saved.
    "It felt really, really great to watch them at least try and get their bearings again because, of course, you know, it's traumatic and they're in shock, you know, from being trapped like that for such a long time," McArthur said. "It felt great to at least help them get free again. "
    (Production: Aleksandra Michalska)
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