Since GIF is somehow patented, I'm guessing GD removed GIF support so as to not have license worries.
If you are on Unix or Linux, you might want to use an application like gif2png to convert the image to a more open format supported by GD.
Barring that, a search on "gif specification" at google.com might be the place to start.
There is also Image::Magick (aka PerlMagick).
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