Maine lobster captain captures and helps heal seagull he bonded with over 15 years

Gull-friend! Maine lobster captain visited by a seagull almost every day for the past 15 years captures and rescues the bird to save its life after it injured its leg

  • Captain John Makowksy has been friends with the bird – who he named Red Eye – since it first flew up on his boat in 2005
  • The fourth generation lobster fisher grew distraught after the bird suffered a leg injury, believing she would die soon 
  • So Makowsky caught the bird and took her to his local Center for Wildlife, where she was nursed back to health   
  • The gull has since been released and the two have been reunited 

A Maine lobster captain rescued his long-time friend, a seagull named Red Eye, after the bird suffered a potentially fatal injury. 

Captain John Makowksy has been friends with the bird since it first flew up on his boat in 2005, proving birds can give dogs a run for man’s best friend.

‘She comes right up to the window and looking at me this far away,’ Makowsky explained to CBS News. ‘Just staring at me.’ 

Captain John Makowksy has been friends with the bird – who he named Red Eye – since it first flew up on his boat in 2005

The fourth generation lobsterman grew distraught after the bird suffered a leg injury, believing she would die soon

The fourth generation lobsterman grew distraught after the bird suffered a leg injury, believing she would die soon

But the dream team hit a snag when Red Eye suffered a leg injury. Makowsky knew that the bird didn’t long to live after that. 

‘I don’t know why I was so emotionally crushed, but it was a piece missing. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I felt like doing this,’ he said.

The sentiment was shared by his wife, Debbie.

‘Oh, very, very difficult,’ she added. ‘To watch John and see how sad he was. I could tear up right now.’ 

So Makowsky caught the bird and took her to his local Center for Wildlife, where she was nursed back to health

So Makowsky caught the bird and took her to his local Center for Wildlife, where she was nursed back to health

'I don't know why I was so emotionally crushed, but it was a piece missing. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I felt like doing this,' the lobster captain said

‘I don’t know why I was so emotionally crushed, but it was a piece missing. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I felt like doing this,’ the lobster captain said

Makowsky managed to catch the seagull and brought her to the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine. 

The two were soon reunited back out at sea on the captain's boat

The two were soon reunited back out at sea on the captain’s boat

Red Eye was nursed to health by the staff and reunited with her pal, who treated her to her favorite fish – Brown Hake. 

The captain released the bird a few weeks later and while the bird was released to ‘the wild,’ it quickly went back to familiar sights.

Boat captains traditionally believed seagulls carry the souls of lost sailors and Makowsky often offers the possibility that the bird is an ancestor, as he is a fourth generation lobsterman. 

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