THE DEVASTATING EFFECT OF FISHING LINE ON WILDLIFE
The first two photos above, donated to this site by Bill Buchanan, are of a Canadian Goose found dead from entanglement in fishing line. The third photo taken by me, Donna Handforth is of a Canadian Goose that lost its leg to fishing line entanglement but managed to survive. Attempts to capture the still flighted bird to remove the line before it severed the leg were unsuccessful.
The above photos are of a seagull that tried to grab bait on a hook tangled on power lines from fishermen who had been fishing off of the side of a bridge. The gull snagged the hook in its beak and hung there helplessly being tossed by the winds of a cold, stormy day. The local power company arrived to try to rescue the bird but were unable to reach it. The best they could do as you here was to cut it free from the wires. It plummeted to the water below and floated away. Its long term survival is unknown and dubious at best.
This is a juvenile red wing blackbird that swallowed a hook which had been discarded with bait still on it.
These are images of the xray of a muscovy that was found with fishing line hanging out of its mouth. The xray revealed a 3 prong hook in the birds gullet. The hook was surgically removed and moscovy survived.
