The yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) has become one of the most common birds in Italian cities — not just coastal ones, but increasingly inland too, where it has learned to exploit landfills, markets and recycling centres. This expansion has led to an increase in reports of injured or "distressed" gulls in urban areas.
Before picking one up, though, it's essential to understand whether it really needs help.
Not every gull on the ground is unwell
The adult yellow-legged gull is a robust, opportunistic bird. It happily stays on the ground — to rest, eat and thermoregulate. A gull sitting still on a roof, a pavement or a beach is not necessarily in distress.
It needs help if:
- It doesn't fly even when you approach to within 1–2 metres
- One wing hangs asymmetrically
- It has visible injuries, blood or torn feathers
- It's completely waterlogged and can't dry out (lost waterproofing)
- It's a juvenile (greyish-brown streaked, July–September) and appears to have been alone for more than 2 hours without parents returning
Don't intervene if:
- It moves away walking when you approach — it can fly, it just prefers not to
- It's perched on an elevated surface watching you calmly
- It's a juvenile in the company of adults
How to pick it up without getting bitten
The adult yellow-legged gull has a strong beak with a hook at the tip, designed to grip slippery fish. It can bite precisely, and a firm bite on the hand hurts.
How to proceed:
- Approach slowly from behind
- Throw a cloth or jacket over the animal to cover its head — darkness calms it immediately
- Grip both wings against the body with one hand, keep the other free to control the beak if needed
- Put it in a large cardboard box with ventilation holes
Don't put a gull in a box that's too small: it needs space to stand upright without pressing its wings against the sides.
The fishing hook problem
One of the most common causes of gull injuries in Italy: ingestion of fishing hooks or fishing line wrapped around the legs. If you see a nylon line coming from the beak or wrapped around a leg, do not try to remove it — accidental cuts or forcing the hook can cause irreversible damage. Only a rescue centre or specialist vet can do this safely.
The "tame" gull
If you've been feeding a gull for weeks and now it won't leave your terrace, this isn't an animal in need of rescue but one that has lost its wariness of humans. These individuals enter a difficult cycle: they're not truly wild but not legally domesticated either. If the problem is serious, contact the local ASL or municipal authority — not a wildlife rescue centre, which doesn't accept healthy animals.
What never to do
Don't give it bread, pasta or processed food. Gulls need animal protein: fresh fish, molluscs, crustaceans. Human food causes serious nutritional deficiencies.
Don't keep it in an enclosed space for more than a few hours without adequate ventilation — gulls dehydrate rapidly.
Not all rescue centres accept gulls
Gulls require specific facilities for rehabilitation (water tanks to retrain wing muscles for take-off from water level). Not all centres are equipped. Use WildSOS to find the nearest one that accepts them.
Something worth knowing
The yellow-legged gull is one of the birds with the highest degree of behavioural plasticity in Europe: it has learned to crack shells by dropping them on tarmac, to follow tractors to feed on earthworms, and to use urban ledges as nesting sites. Over 50 years it has colonised habitats it historically didn't occupy.
Legal protection
The yellow-legged gull is protected under the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC) and Law 157/1992. It cannot be captured, kept or killed. In some protected areas or airports there are management plans regulating gull presence — but this has nothing to do with rescuing injured individuals, which is always protected by law.
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