A woman from Caernarfon who campaigns for the rights of birds and calls on people in her community to treat pigeons better says she even keeps seagulls in her bathroom in her quest to make a difference. Retired antiques dealer Denise Theophilus, 69, is an avid campaigner and “rehabber” doing her best to help during the avian flu crisis while calling out big companies that neglect the birds, North Wales Live reports.
Denise feeds gulls daily, mostly down on the foreshore. Some of the things she claims to see there leave her appalled: gulls reportedly mown down by cyclists, maimed by slingshot, cut by broken bottles and hooked by carelessly discarded angling gear.
She talks darkly of rumours of birds being “tortured, mutilated and disembowelled” – though proof has been elusive. “Caernarfon simply isn’t interested in pigeons, gulls and birds in general,” she said. “They’re just regarded as rats with wings.
“I can’t tell you the abuse I had when I started feeding the birds seven years ago. Recently it’s not so bad. I always said that by feeding gulls on the beach, it would draw them away from the town centre.”
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Denise says her flat now doubles as a bird sanctuary, though the facilities are limited: three at a time is the most she can cope with. Lacking a shed, she keeps injured gulls in a small backyard during the day.
At night, she carries them up to her bathroom, having made up a bed in the bath – bubblewrap and puppy pads for comfort and easy cleaning. Usually she aims to shower before nightfall. “But I have showered with birds in the bath,” she said. “I did have a shower curtain between us!”
According to Denise the most recent was on December 21, when a gull was found in the Spar car park, Towyn, Conwy. “It had been shot in the wing,” said Denise. “It was very scared and hiding under a bin.”
Three days earlier a Common Gull with pellet wounds was found near Mold, Flintshire. In November a gull was retrieved from a road in Llandudno Junction, Conwy. Like all rescuees, it was given a name, Benjamin Button.
“Initially it was thought he’s been hit by a vehicle as it had wing and leg injuries,” said the divorced mother-of-three. “But when we looked more closely, we realised it had been shot. Probably in flight, with the injuries sustained during its fall to the ground.”
Another shot gull was found a month earlier, hiding in the dark near Coleg Llandrillo Rhyl, Denbighshire. Like others that survived, its wing was strapped and the stricken bird was sent off to the Linjoy Wildlife Sanctuary, a 150-minute drive away in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Vets For Pets in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, has offered free treatment before the birds are sent away for long-term recuperation.
After moving from Liverpool to Caernarfon nine years ago, Denise says she became offended by what she said were negative local attitudes to birds. Her "mission" began in earnest in September 2019 when around 50 pigeons were locked up in a disused building near Caernarfon. She planned to break them out, having failed to track down the building’s owner. “The birds had been left to die of dehydration and starvation,” she said.
“So I set about looking for a ladder high enough to reach an upper window and break the glass. Can you imagine it? I was approaching 70, I’m less than 5ft tall and I’m desperately scared of heights! I asked a neighbour to look after my two cats in case I didn’t return home that evening.”
Luckily, her plan was never put into action. Following social media pressure, exerted by her group and others, Denise discovered windows had been mysteriously opened and the birds had flown.
Denise runs Foundation For Feathered Friends (FFFF), a group whose influence belies its diminutive size. For most of its existence, she was the only member. This year the number’s jumped to six full-timers (“my A Team”) and 10 part-time helpers.
Working with similar groups, FFFF has successfully fought campaigns across Britain, usually over the issue of bird netting at train stations, shops and bridges. She’s regularly quoted in the national press. But boots-on-the-ground operations remain firmly fixed on north Wales where, Denise feels, much work remains to be done.
A swing bridge given access to the foreshore has been closed for the last two months, forcing Denise to feed her friends on the quayside instead. She goes out late at night and, so far, no one’s spat fury at her.
Seaside towns in north Wales often have an uneasy co-existence with gulls that, during the breeding season, can become excessively territorial and even aggressive. Vermin problems in places like Prestatyn, Denbighshire, have been blamed on over-zealous bird feeders.
At one point Caernarfon’s own seagull problem prompted traders to call for action amid claims shoppers and tourists were under attack. The town’s chip-stealing gulls even inspired a horror novel. Yet Denise suspects a recent series of shootings across North Wales has more to do with sport than retribution.
Starved of funds, Denise and her A Team rehabbers have learned how to treat birds themselves. Injured legs are splinted, feathers are sown and wings are wrapped and supported. Not all the birds can be saved but many are and Denise is determined to do what she can. It’s not just pigeons and gulls: woodland birds benefit from the fat balls she hangs on trees in the winter.
But finding enough money to keep going is a constant struggle. Petrol and feeds is expensive and there’s never enough equipment. FFFF has a GoFundMe page and donations are welcome. So too are bird seed and dog biscuits, the latter favoured by gulls.
Denise said: “I’m always amazed that birds with legs hanging off or feet split open can continue functioning. Can you imagine us doing that?
“I just wish people would treat them more like neighbours and leave them alone to get on with things. They’ve had enough to cope with this year, with avian flu, so there’s no need for us to wage war on them with guns, cycles and cars.”
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