A Seagull Rescue on Gregory Lane

Have you ever gone fishing and got a knotted mess of spinning line on your reel ? And then decided that the best solution to solving the problem is to just cut the bird's nest of line free of the reel and thread new line onto the rod ?

If so, I hope you, like many fishers, gather the bird's nest of line and stow it away until your reach shore - where you can then throw it into the garbage.

It doesn't always happen that way though ! It sometimes gets thrown away.

For years, I've heard horror stories about loons or seagulls that get entwined in scrap fishing line, only to eventually die...

Yesterday, Loon Lake had a seagull that had become a victim to some fisher's carelessness. The gull had line ,complete with terminal tackle and swivels, caught around it's tongue and wrapped around it's beak.

The bird was found lying down on the Gregory Lane causeway, exhausted after hopelessly trying to free itself from the fishing line.

The bird was easily captured using a fishing net and it's body was wrapped in a towel. Part of the towel was used to make a hood to cover it's eyes. It took three people to help the bird: one cradling the bird with both arms, one holding it's beak open in a fixed position (while wearing gloves), and one carefully removing the fishing line from around it's tongue and beak. Tools used included small scissors and pliers. There was no hook on the line so thankfully a hook didn't have to be removed!

The whole process took about fifteen minutes and the bird was released, flying only a short distance where it landed in the river and swam around while sipping water.

This seagull was lucky - it was found and rescued from dying.

It is vitally important not to leave debris such as fishing line in the environment, where it can harm or kill wildlife. If you discover any type of debris, take the time to collect and dispose of it at our local landfill site.