Jonathon Livingstone Seagull Release - back to the drawing board!

The big day had arrived - Jonathon was to be released back into the wild! Or so Pete thought - see slideshow of what happened!

For those not aware of the whole story, it started Saturday two weeks ago. When Vern or one of the other regular Doddi's Kayakers found Jonathon floating upside down in the water and brought him to shore, where Pete on spotting duty took over with CPR. It wasn't looking good for Jonathon, but credit to the caring nature of Pete and Barb - they took Jonathon home to convalesce on the farm.

Despite Barb's pessimism that she was wasting good cat food on a bird that was going to die anyway, they persisted and after a few rough early days Jonathon started to improve. For the last week or so, he has been gradually getting better such that he is now just another one of the menagerie at the farm.

The photos show the moment of release. The general consensus from those observing is that he was fast out of the gate and trotted well; however, swimming and flying were non-events! This can probably put down to Pete's background and skill in training trotters - not seagulls!

Clearly, it is back to the drawing board. Barb will have to put a swimming program together and they may need to bring in a flight specialist to get Jonathon airborne.

Stay tuned for more on going reports of Jonathon's progress - maybe a Rotto crossing is on the horizon!