Just five birds have survived a "major wildlife incident" where more than 100 birds were hit by cars when they were forced to roost on a 100-kilometre-per-hour, low-lying coastal road due to a high tide.
A month later, two of the surviving silver gulls have been released into the Tasmanian wild after undergoing weeks of rehabilitation.
Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary received "numerous calls" from distressed members of the public reporting the incident at South Arm earlier in June, and said an emergency response team was sent out to try to rescue the injured silver gulls.
Director Greg Irons described the scene as "carnage".
"Unfortunately, a lot of that 100 were already deceased by the time we got there … it was a really sad scene, the nature of some of the injuries on some of these animals were just horrific," he said.
Just eight birds passed the triage assessment. All had fractures and three later died over the week.
The five surviving gulls have been undergoing treatment over the past four weeks, and rescuers were finally able to set two free last week.
"We see a lot of bad things, and there's a lot of animals that simply can't be helped, and a lot, despite your best efforts, won't survive," Mr Irons said.
He said the remaining birds would likely be released in the coming weeks.
"The fact that they've been alive and with us for this long means that the prognosis is very, very good for the ones that remain with us … hopefully, we can be popping a few more out there soon," he said.
Rising tide displaced birds to road
The gulls were hit after they lost their normal roosting area on a thin strip of land next to the road due to a high tide and instead roosted on the road.
"There's just a really unique environment where this occurred," Mr Irons said.
"They're coming right in on dusk, they don't have night vision, so they come into sleep and the spot they normally sleep is suddenly not there and the nearest dry land happens to be on a road that's a 100km/hr zone.
"We need to dig in a bit and say, 'Well, what sort of solutions can we come up with to try and prevent this from happening again?'
"Whether it's floating pontoons, or little islands they can sleep on, or who knows what the answer is, but there's currently signage there warning people that there are birds on the road, so hopefully we can come up with something sooner rather than later."
Mr Irons urged motorists to watch out for roadkill, saying it was a "perfect sign" that there could be others around.
"Use that as a sign to say, 'OK, I should be more aware and maybe slow down for a little while. Learn to use roadkill as a marker that there could be other wildlife in danger in that area."
A spokesman for the Department of State Growth said it was considering how best to deal with the issue.
"While the recent king tide has abated, the department is investigating a long-term solution for this area, in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, which may include permanent seagull/coastal bird warning signage," he said in a statement.
