The Story Behind The Photos
After getting out of my car at the local park where I walked my dogs daily, I noticed a seagull hovering in mid air. It was odd the way it was hovering, it wasn't going anywhere, curious, I walked closer. I was nearly directly under the bird before I understood what had happened. Kite string was tangled between two trees 50 yards apart, unable to see the string just as I had been unable to see it, the seagull had flown into the string causing it to send the bird swinging around, the wing entangling in the kite string.
It was high up, 20 feet maybe more. I looked around for a long branch with which to hook the string, found one about 6 feet long, pulled my station wagon up under the gull and climbed up onto the roof, but even standing on the roof with a 6 foot long branch, I still could not reach the string.
A man with whom I was acquainted happened by, I explained why I was standing on the roof of my car and asked him if he could stop at the park's maintenance building to see if he could get someone to come around with a cherry picker. Having few other options, I let my dogs out to run around and play while I waited.
A man with a cherry picker came, cut the string loose on one side and lowered the gull down to me. I wrapped my jacket around it and he then cut it loose from the other tree. I took the gull to Tri State Bird Rescue & Research in Newark, Delaware. They found no broken bones, only bruising and swelling. Two weeks of cage rest and the gull was released.
About a year later I found a crow in a similar situation, only lower to the ground where I could reach it. I wrapped my jacket around the crow as its flock mates berated me from the nearby branches. My companion cut the string from one tree, but left the string entangled in the other, this way, if we lost our grip on the bird and it tried to fly off, it would not be escaping trailing string that would inevitably result in an entanglement elsewhere. We slowly twisted the string this way and that until the wing was completely free. I then examined the wing for any obvious signs of a break and saw none. I held the crow firmly but allowed it to flap its wings, which it did with no visible difficulty. So I loosened my grip and allowed it to fly off. It flew about 20 feet away, landing on the top of a picnic table, its companions flew down beside it, excitedly proclaiming its freedom, then they all flew off together.
This is One Leg. A Canadian Goose intinguishable to our eyes from the hundreds of other Canadian Geese in the park I frequented. That is until one day it came to get a handout of bread or corn from a benefactor and was seen to be trailing fishing line from one of its legs. For several days I, my companion and Agents from U.S. Fish & Wildlife tried to capture the goose to remove the line, but the goose was still able to fly, avoiding all efforts to capture it. Over the course of several weeks the line got tighter and tighter, cutting into the flesh of the leg. Still, we could not catch the goose but the numerous efforts frightened the bird. For several weeks she was not spotted, then returned, minus the string, and her leg. As you can see from the picture, she was banded, the only bird in this park spotted with a band, which is what ensured us this was the same goose.
For the next 3 years, park patrons made an effort to ensure she received her fair share of the bread and cracked corn they had brought, enable her to survive despite her handicap. Three years after loosing the leg she was found dead, cause unknown, though I suspect she didn't hobble out of the way quickly enough for a callous motorist traveling too fast for the small roads of this quaint park.
Walking along the banks of a small lake, I was startled when a bird flew up out of the marsh plants along the banks only to drop onto the ground in front of me. I immediately saw the fishing line protruding from the birds mouth and entangled in the plants. I picked up the bird and began untangling the string from the plants, discovered it ended at a childs stick fishing pole. Closer examination of the bird revealed a hook imbedded in the interior bottom of the birds beak. Apparently the child had discarded its fishing pole with bait still on the hook and this juvenile red wing black bird tried to grab the bait.
I wrapped the bird in a towel I kept in my car and transported it to Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, where the hook was removed revealing no permanent damage. However the shock and stress proved too much for the bird and it died that evening.
As fall bared the trees in the park, something black in the center of a large, thick bush caught my eye. Careful examination revealed it was the remains of a dead crow. I got my camera, got on the ground and crawled under the tangle of branches to the center of the bush, the crow had fishing line entangled around a leg, and then entangled on branch. Having occured sometime over the summer, deep in the thick bush obstucted from view, no one could see its struggles to escape, so it had hung there until it died.
Agents of U.S. Fish and Wildlife found this Canadian Goose with its leg nearly severed from fishing line, dead in a National Wildlife Refuge. The photos were provided to me by Bill Buchanan to assist in educating the public on this problem.
Driving over a small bridge from which many people fish, I spotted this gull hanging from the lines. Numerous strands of fishing line hung from the power lines, most still with weights and hooks attached. This unfortunate gull tried to grab a meal of some bait and took the hook as well. A cold and stormy day, it was being blown mercilessly about, hanging from the cables by the fishing line and the hook in its beak.
I called a local wildlife rescue organization, BEAKS. They called the local power company, JEA. JEA dispatched a truck with a bucket but it was too small to reach the bird that was dangling at least 20 feet off the side of the bridge and another 25 up over it. JEA had to dispatch its largest bucket truck, the bridge had to be closed while the truck was set up and two men raised to get to the struggling bird, but even this truck could not reach the bird, so the men took a long pole with a cutting edge at the end and reached out to cut the bird free. Once they did the bird, too exhausted to fly, plummeted into the water below and floated away. Its fate is unknown but its survival unlikely, cold, exhausted, wet and with a hook still embedded in its beak.
A domestic duck that had been abandoned at the local park survived there with a flock of various other domestic breeds. Beloved by many park patrons and fed by many. One day this duck was found to have a six pack ring entangled around her bill and neck, the way in which it had wrapped around her bill prevented her from being able to open her bill wide enough to take in food.
Agents from U.S. Fish and Wildlife came to the park on 3 separate occasions and set out in a boat to try to catch the duck but she kept eluding them. Third time was the charm though, they successfully caught her, cut the 6 pack ring off, checked that she had no cuts or visible damage from the entanglement and immediately freed her. She continued to live well and provide a calming presence to the park patrons who visited her and her companions for many years to come.
This is a photo that was provided to me by Bill Buchanan. This swallow was found struggling from entanglement in fishing line which then became entangled around this housing box in a National Wildlife Refuge. Agents from U.S. Fish and Wildlife were called, they freed the bird, it was uninjured and released.
In the park where I walked my dogs, my companion and I found a muscovy duck with a long piece of fishing line protruding from its mouth. My companion distracted the bird with food while I attempted to sneak up on it with a net. As I got close enough to swing the net the muscovy tried to escape, my only option to prevent its escape I knew risked causing greater harm, but if not caught, the bird would surely die, so I stepped on the fishing line. This stopped the birds attempt to flee, I dropped the net over it, and then a blanket. I tried removing the line but a gentle tug was met with resistence so we took the bird to Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research. There xrays revealed a 3 prong fishing hook lodged in the muscovy's gullet. They surgically removed the hook and line and after several weeks recovery, the muscovy was released.
