A man has rescued an injured seagull on the side of the road and decided to help it recover.

Robert Tahau, from Whakatane in New Zealand, took the bird with him in his car after finding it with a broken wing on his way to work.

He took to Facebook to share a video of his heroic efforts when the bird suddenly turned on him. 

WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT THE ABOVE VIDEO

The bird began pecking Robert in the face, with plenty of expletives to follow. 

"My plan was to take it back to Whakatane where I live, but by the time I got home everything was closed down - the vet and SPCA - so I thought I'd put him in a box with a blanket overnight," Robert said. 

Despite Robert's best intentions, the bird did not survive.