An injured herring gull that was stuck in Croke Park during the All-Ireland Men’s Football final is doing “very well” and will be released back into the wild shortly, a wildlife charity has said.
The bird wandered the field at Croke Park for around 25 minutes of the first half of the match between Armagh and Galway on Sunday.
It had a wing injury and was removed off the pitch and transported to Kildare Wildlife Rescue, where it received some pain relief and fluids.
Kildare Wildlife Centre was founded in 2022 and is run by a small group of rehabilitators and rescue Volunteers. The charity’s team works around the country to help wildlife in need.
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Dan Donoher, the organisation manager at Kildare Wildlife Rescue, told Oliver Callan on RTÉ Radio 1 that the gull was “doing very well”.
“After being rescued from the pitch he was brought to our centre where we checked him over. He has a slight wing injury,” he said.
The bird was “a bit shocked after his ordeal,” but was recovering, he said.
“We hope to have him for another few days before releasing him back ... There were a lot of worried people but he’s going to be okay.”
Fans on social media had referred to the bird as a “seagull”, though Donoher said it was in fact a herring gull, and there was “no such thing really as a seagull ... That’s just a general term people use”.
He added: “These guys probably have a partner and some young at this time of year, so that’s why it’s important to get him back.”
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