Unbelievable

Today at 2:30pm I found a grey heron trapped, with a broken wing, behind a light fixture at work. The bird was laying flat on it's side and suffering from having been there all day in the sun - maybe longer if it had become trapped yesterday. I managed to get him (or her) out without much difficulty, avoiding being speared by its razor sharp beak and called security to get them to call out someone to take the bird to be helped. In the meantime we did manage to get it to drink some water

They tried to call the Regent's Park rangers - but found the rangers had turned off their phones. They then managed to contact the RSPCA - who said they would be there 'sometime before 7.'

I left work near 5pm and at that time they still had not come - I did make sure the bird had some more water, but I didn't think it would survive until he could be picked up. I called security after I got home - near 7 and they had taken it and it was still alive.

I can remember back in '78 calling the RSPCA in Kings Lynn to come to the rescue of an abandoned seal pup in Hunstanton - a 45 mile distance - that took the rescuer 15 min to cover. The seal survived, even tho it was given little chance of doing so - I hope the heron now has a chance. Shame that it had to suffer so long waiting for rescue.

UPDATE: The RSPCA did not take the heron away alive - instead they injected it and put it to sleep, before removing it.