Help! A seagull is stuck on the roof of Portland’s Victoria Mansion.
The Victoria Mansion in Portland. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
A seagull has been stuck between two poles on the roof of Portland’s Victoria Mansion since Monday, and so far no one has been able to reach it.
Staff at the historic Danforth Street mansion and local residents have been keeping tabs on the gull for hours, contacting anyone they can think of in hopes of freeing the bird — roofing contractors, arborists.
Victoria Mansion staff posted this plea for help Tuesday after the Portland Fire Department was unable to reach a seagull that’s stuck on the roof. (Courtesy of Victoria Mansion)
The Portland Fire Department brought a ladder truck Monday evening, but was about 18 feet short of the 70-foot-tall tower on the mansion due to having to access the building from the road. The crew then tried to use a pole, but was unsuccessful.
Staci Hanscom, director of education and public programs at the mansion, said Tuesday that the gull appeared to be stuck between the spire of the tower and a lightning rod. There is no hatch to the tower, and power lines out front make the task even more complicated, she said.
“We keep running into brick walls, said Executive Director Tim Brosnihan.
Brosnihan said the organization needs “some serious equipment” in order to reach the gull because of having no easy way for trucks to access the building. He said someone might be able to put a ladder on the main roof deck, but would still be faced with a 40-foot climb to the spire.
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The last time work was done on the tower was about 20 years ago when scaffolding was erected, he said.
Meredith Harrell, who said she belongs to a local wildlife group, has been trying to spread the word. She’s been trying to connect the mansion staffers with avian organizations and she’s left messages with multiple arborists and Central Maine Power.
She’s worried that without help soon, the bird will die.
A seagull flies by another gull stuck on the roof of the Victoria Mansion in Portland on Tuesday. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
The Victoria Mansion put out a public call for help Tuesday morning on social media, along with a photo of the fire department attempting a rescue Monday.
“If you have equipment that could help, we would love to talk with you,” the post says. “We are very grateful to the Portland Fire Department for trying to help yesterday. Unfortunately, even with their tallest ladder and a very long pole, they were not able to reach it.”
“It’s an unfortunate situation we wish we could help more with,” said fire department spokesperson Sean Donaghue.
The post had been shared nearly 50 times as of early Tuesday afternoon. One commenter said, “Where’s that couple that scaled the Empire State Building last week?”
Harrell said gulls are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the unpermitted pursuing, hunting, taking, capturing, killing or possessing of them.
“We’re all sympathetic too, and we hope the community understands that we’re really working hard at this and trying to figure out a solution,” Brosnihan said.
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Andrew Rice is a staff writer at the Press Herald covering the city of Portland. He's been working in journalism since 2012, joining the Sun Journal in 2017, then the Press Herald in 2026. He lives in. More by Andrew Rice
