Seagull dies after getting stuck on the roof of Portland’s Victoria Mansion

CNN Newsource on July 9, 2026

Efforts to try and save a seagull that was stuck on the roof of the Victoria Mansion in Portland were not successful.

By Adam Bartow

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    PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) — Efforts to try and save a seagull that was stuck on the roof of the Victoria Mansion in Portland were not successful.

Video taken by Maine’s Total Coverage showed the gull’s wing was pierced on a spire at the top of the mansion and the bird unable to free itself.

On Monday, the Portland Fire Department tried to save the bird, but even with their tallest ladder truck and a long pole, firefighters were not able to reach it, coming up about 18 feet short.

Mansion staff said on Tuesday they were reaching out to numerous other businesses to look at other options to reach the bird, that was about 70 feet in the air.

Mansion staff said there is no access hatch to the roof and there are power lines in front of the building, which is why the fire department had to park its truck on Park Street to try and reach the top. A stone wall around the building was also limiting close access.

As of noon on Tuesday, the gull was still alive, but it died later that night.

Mansion staff said they did arrange with Keeley Crane for a person to be lifted to the tower roof to extricate the gull. But, before this could happen, two people brought ladders to the property, scaled multiple roofs, and carried the bird to the ground.

Mansion staff say they were not consulted about this rescue attempt and would not have condoned it because the plan “did not meet our standards for human safety.”

Mansion staff said Wednesday they were assessing the Mansion’s lightening protection system to see if there are ways to make it safer for birds.

“This was a very unusual and unexpected mishap, but we are determined to reduce the odds that it will ever happen again,” staff wrote.

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