A SEAGULL that has impaled itself on a stick is likely to die unless it is caught and treated, the RSPCA said.

The charity said it had been called out three times in the past month by members of the public who had seen the gull at Redcar Stray, east Cleveland. It appears it has been impaled by a thin stick.

The RSPCA said carelessly discarded litter was most likely to blame for the animal's plight.

Spokesman Peter Bolton said the gull could fly and was proving difficult to catch.

He said the wound would become infected and that if the bird was not caught and treated, it would probably die.

He said: "We do not believe somebody caught this gull and stabbed it. That would be virtually impossible to do.

"We think it has landed on or flown into this sharp stick at some point and the end of it has become wedged under its skin.

"It must be in terrible pain and the stick must be affecting its ability to behave naturally. The frustrating thing is this could have been avoided if only somebody had disposed of this potentially hazardous piece of litter properly."