Saintly or Stupid?

[Parksy]

A caravanner has lost the sight in his right eye after trying to rescue a distressed seabird on a beach in Gower
Click Here to read the story
Apparently the guy had picked up a Gannet which was then frightened by a dog which was not on a lead.
The Gannet panicked and attacked his would be rescuer and pecked out the man's right eye and damaged his left eyelid.
I feel sorry for this guy who has paid a very high price for trying to do a good deed but he was stupid to try to rescue the animal without knowing how to handle it, he should have left it alone. It died anyway

 

[LMH]

I agree with what you say Parksy.

Also, I'd never go in water to try and retrieve a dog which is in difficulty. They usually manage to get out and the would be rescuer (normally its owner) ends up drowning.

A few years ago, one of mine fell into the harbour at Padstow. Our hearts were in our mouths at the time but it all ended ok.

Lisa

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Stupid or not I would have probably done the same as long as I wasn't putting myself in danger, like scaling a cliff. It's easy to be wise after the event and regret trying to save the creature but would anyone know how the gannet would react if a dog came near?
The poor man certainly paid a high price for his compassion.

 

[susanswift]

I would have done the same thing, and would have tried to rescue the dog. But i always try to help, when i can...I remember I took my dog for a walk once and there was an owl sat in the middle of the football field, just a little thing , cute as 10 bears.

I sat watching it for ages and realised it had hurt its wing. So I rescued it and took it home. When I got it home didnt know what to do with it , so i phoned the RSPB and they said could i find a tree and put him in. !!!!

mmm cant tell you what i replied, ended up taking him to my vet .....

 

[Parksy]

I'm sure that I've read on those signs that we see close to beaches which tell us where it's safe to bathe and how clean the beach is supposed to be that it's dangerous to interfere with injured seabirds and to leave them alone and call the RSPCA.
I already knew that seabirds have been known to peck out the eyes of shipwrecked sailors lying injured or exhausted in lifeboats, I read about it in books about the second world war and apparently the shine of the eyeball causes the seabirds to react instinctively so I don't think that I'd have picked up that Gannet.

 

[Steve L]

I do feel sorry for the guy. He probably at the time thought he was doing a good deed. Now he might not be able to do his job as a welder. I've got a brother-in-law (there's 6 of them), who lost his right eye as a teenager, by using a metal file without it's handle fitted. He slipped and jabbed himself in the eye. He doesn't use a welder now just incase he gets arc eye in the remaining good eye.

I shouted myself hoarse a few years ago when our black labrador decided he could wander off and swim the estuary at Barmouth. I knew the tide rips were too strong for me. He came swimming back eventually, wondering what all the fuss was about.

I also used my jet drive speed boat at Newquay Dyfed, to rescue 12 people stranded because they tried to scramble over the rocks between Caie Bache beach and Newquay beach. I had to navigate between the rocks to get 4 people at a time. One of them was a toddler in a pushchair. I did it because the inshore lifeboat was already on another job and I'd been trained to use a D class inflatable at Newquay. Also my boat could get into the area because it had no outboard leg to foul on the rocks.
Some might say it was stupid because I could of holed my boat and sunk it. But to me it was doing what I'd been trained to do but using my own boat instead.

I'm the sort of chap who will help anyone out if I can do it without putting myself or others around me in danger I'll have a go. My extended family of relative's (64 in all) know that, if they're in the poop, I'll have a way of fixing the problem or a way of getting them home.

 

[LMH]

I also used my jet drive speed boat at Newquay Dyfed, to rescue 12 people stranded because they tried to scramble over the rocks between Caie Bache beach and Newquay beach. I had to navigate between the rocks to get 4 people at a time. One of them was a toddler in a pushchair. I did it because the inshore lifeboat was already on another job and I'd been trained to use a D class inflatable at Newquay. Also my boat could get into the area because it had no outboard leg to foul on the rocks.
Some might say it was stupid because I could of holed my boat and sunk it. But to me it was doing what I'd been trained to do but using my own boat instead.

WOW! Steve, that's impressive.

Lisa

 

[LMH]

You should be nominated for an MBE for gallantry.

Lisa

 

[Timbo1]

People don't usually "scramble over the rocks" with a toddler in a pushchair surely?

 

[LMH]

People don't usually "scramble over the rocks" with a toddler in a pushchair surely?

Maybe the pushchair was a four wheeled 'off pavement' model.

Lisa

 

[Steve L]

They didn't on the way to the other beach but when cut off by the tide, it's a 5 mile hike by road to get back. So then scrabbling over the rocks seems a doddle to the foolhardy.

 

[Timbo1]

Just wondering whether The Stig is Superman in disguise...

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Is it a bird, is it a plane, No its Steveinleo (aka Walter Mitty) The entertainment value of that post is invaluable!

 

[Sproket]

 

[LMH]

Bloody hell! You should send that off to be printed poster size, it's brilliant.

Lisa x

 

[Parksy]

OK guys, SuperSteve has given us a laugh and a bit of fun with some of his shaggy dog stories here and there but let's not start to pick on him please, he doesn't have to justify everything that he writes

 

[LMH]

Who's picking on him?

That ;poster is brilliant, I wish someone would do one for me.

Lisa

 

[Parksy]

fyi Lisa I wasn't referring to Sprocket's poster

 

[LMH]

Of course.

 

[HerinDoors]

Hi If the photo is the same beach where the man was attacked by the bird, we were on holiday there last year. I cant understand why they took 45 min to get help after the attack, as the beach runs between two villages, one with a lifegaurd station on the beach. I hpoe the man and his family can recover from this, and find a way forward.

Ta Julia