Spectacular gannet cliff rescue

Gannet hanging by beak on sheer cliff face

 

29.06.11

Four RSPCA officers undertook an amazing rescue last week when they saved a gannet which was hanging vertically from its beak against a sheer cliff face in Bridlington, North Yorkshire.

We were called about the bird on the afternoon of Wednesday, 22 June and just a few hours later, the four officers were carrying out the daunting rescue mission at Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve. 

Rope caught around gannet's beak

Inspector Geoff Edmond was first on the scene and realised that the gannet was still alive, but was dangling from the 400ft cliff.

He called in members of the RSPCA rope rescue team to help - Inspectors Trevor Walker and Tony Jackman and Animal Collection Officer (ACO) Dave Dawson - who are specially trained to rescue animals from areas like mountain and cliff sides.

The gannet was hanging from a piece of line which had become caught around its beak.

Inspector Edmond explained:

Gannets build their nests from seaweed, but are also attracted to other materials such as fishing line and pieces of fishing net and nylon rope.

On this occasion a piece of nylon rope had unravelled and became stuck around the gannet's lower beak, so as soon as the bird went to fly away, it became suspended from the line which was still attached to the nest.

 

The rescue mission

The three rope rescue officers travelled from the Newcastle area to save the gannet and the rescue attempt got underway at 6.30pm.

Inspector Walker abseiled down the cliff and spent 45 minutes hanging above the water whilst trying to find a line of descent that was close enough for him to reach the bird.

Unfortunately, they realised that Inspector Walker would be unable to reach the bird and he had to be hand-winched back to the cliff top.

Second time lucky

Another attempt at 9.15pm by Inspector Jackman was successful and the bird was carried up to safety.

Inspector Edmond later took the gannet to a vet after removing the line and amazingly the bird was healthy and well.

The gannet was released on the cliff top the next day.
 

'The success was down to us working together as a team' 

Rope training team leader Inspector Walker said:

"This was the first specialist rope rescue carried out by our team and I am so pleased that it went well.

"The gannet had been hanging by its beak for more than 10 hours and it's fantastic that it survived and was released.

"It was a long rescue attempt in the end, but was more than worth it to see the bird being carried over the cliff top to safety.

"I can't praise the rest of the officers enough. It was very precarious, but the success was down to us working together as a team and we felt absolutely euphoric to have rescued the bird."
 

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More about our rescue work

The specialist training our officers go through means they can act quickly in a variety of situations.

They also regularly rescue pets, farm and wild animals trapped or hurt by discarded litter.

Go behind the scenes of our rescue work and watch some of our dramatic rescue footage.
 

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