Man impaled on steel picket fence crawls for 90 minutes to get help

Rarely has a small bird caused so much trouble. Gary Walker, 45, had been searching for bark for his precious European quails on Monday night, when he fell two metres and impaled his left leg on a steel picket fence.

He pulled himself free, passed out from massive blood loss, then crawled for 90 minutes up a steep bank to phone for help after the fall in Brimbank Park, Keilor East in Australia.



''I've got to reassess the birds I think,'' he said from hospital. ''I was going from tree to tree trying to get a nice piece of bark to stop the other birds from sh---ing on the quails. I didn't find one.'' Paramedics have compared Mr Walker to TV survival expert Bear Grylls, after he freed himself and made a tourniquet with his belt - which almost certainly saved his life.

''When I pulled [the picket] out I got an instant dizzy spell, like I was going to faint and pass out straight away,'' he said. ''I thought this is it, I've got to get a tourniquet. When I woke up, I hadn't let go of it. I reckon if I had passed out completely I would have lost pressure and bled slowly for the rest of the night. There's no comparison to Bear Grylls. He's done some amazing things."