Well, this is just cute: After news of a Budweiser-drinking seagull hater took off a few weeks ago, local rescue organization Wild Rescue received an outpouring of support and donations. Enough donations, in fact, that they were able to order a high-tech, net-launching device to help them capture the collared birds.

While waiting for their new Coda NetLauncher (which looks exactly like you'd think it would) to come in the mail, Wild Rescue also managed to outwit one of the strangled gulls near Lake Merced and free the little guy from his aluminum noose. (Video of his triumphant release, embedded after the jump.)

Seeing an opportunity with the Budweiser tie-in, Wild Rescue even reached out to the Anheuser-Busch company hoping to get a statement about "these acts of cruelty using their product." (Although, we think this might say more about Budweiser drinkers than the manufacturer itself. It's not like they perforated the things for easier gull-snagging.) Anheuser-Busch has yet to respond, but the California Beer and Beverage Distributors stepped up to double the bounty for the Gull Strangler, which now sits at $6,000.
[WildRescue]