Some of you may remember that on February 17th I posted about the problem of birds getting caught in discarded fishing line at Willow Pond, one of our urban fisheries here in Murray, Utah. I had photographed some Common Mergansers that had fishing line entangled on their bodies and fish hooks stuck in their bills.
This merganser had lost a foot to fishing line. Another had a fish-hook stuck in its bill and other ducks had line wrapped around their legs and wings.
Here’s a link to that original post: https://featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/02/17/one-footed-merganser-in-a-hurry/#comment-21517
In comments, many of you were as disturbed as I was about the carelessness of anglers and the resulting suffering of birds and some suggested a variety of methods to help address the issue. I chose to contact Tom Wharton, a long-time and highly respected columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, to see if he was interested in doing a story on the situation at Willow Pond. When I sent him a link to the merganser post he responded almost immediately and asked if I would meet him at the pond and give him some background.
So a couple of days later Mia and I met him at the pond and spent most of an hour with him reviewing the situation. He was enthusiastic about writing a column on the subject and trying to help birds.
That column was published three days ago but I’ve been on a camping/photo trip and couldn’t post about it until now. But since many of you had asked me to update any developments on the situation (sadly, attempts to rescue these two mergansers apparently failed) I figured a little late was better than never…
Below I’ve provided a link to the column in the Tribune. Tom, Mia and I hope that this kind of publicity will help remind folks who use our urban (and not so urban) fisheries to be a little (lot…) more careful about discarded trash in general and fishing line and hooks in particular. Our birds are paying a terrible price for the carelessness of many anglers.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/55975514-223/story.csp
Ron
Thank you Ingrid. Yes, it was Lake Temescal in Oakland. I greatly appreciate the information and link about the Wildlife Emergency Services. I’m away though the weekend, but I will stop by the lake on my way home and look for this poor egret. If I can find it, I’ll contact the Wildlife Emergency Services right away. And thank you again, Ron.
Thank you, Ron, Mia and Tom. Tom’s shocking headline will hopefully get some of these anglers to clean up after themselves. My heart breaks when I see a bird entangled with fishing line, hooks or other man-made foreign objects. I saw a great egret at Lake Temescal with what looked like one of those rubber wristbands given out at fundraisers around its neck where the neck joins the body. I asked a ranger if this was some method of tagging egrets. He said he didn’t think so, had never heard of tagging a bird with something that encircled its neck and he thought it was probably a large rubber band of some kind. I’ve worried about that bird for months now.
Sharon, I’m assuming that’s Lake Temescal in Oakland? If you happen to see that egret again, if he or she seems to be staying around the lake, you can contact Wildlife Emergency Services in the Bay Area. They do field rescue or can at least assess the situation and let you know if a rescue is possible. (I did a field training seminar with them and they do great works.) http://www.wildlifeservices.org
Oh, I should have mentioned that despite the appearance of their web address, they are in no way affiliated with a group like USDA Wildlife Services. 🙂 They recently changed their name — they used to be Wild Rescue. They’re an independent and licensed entity with the primary directive of helping out wildlife in tough situations. You can see the type of work they do at their blog: http://wildlifeemergencyservices.blogspot.com
I know what you mean, Sharon. I’ve done some “worrying” myself over these mergansers. I kind of put myself in their situation and it can become really depressing…
Thanks for the update Ron. I’m so glad it got out in print. If we could do this in every state or area we live in…I also found out it’s common in bridges where there’s a lot of fishing going on.
Thank you, Maria. I hope the article makes some of these anglers think a little before they discard all that trash.
Bless your heart … such needless suffering. Not that it’ll do a lot, but I’ve posted your blog to my FB page … all of us, everywhere, should be constantly aware of how much of an impact our actions have.
Thanks, Lois. You never know, it just might help a little…
Thank you folks!
Ron,
There was a similar problem in So Cal in San Clemente and Dana Point with the Brown Pelicans gettng ensnarled in fishing line and having the hooks tear their sac under the bill which prevented them from successfully feeding. There was a big rescue effort there and some sacs were repaired and they were sent on their way but catching them ia a challenge unless they are so weak they can’t fly away. There were even some prosthetic bills attached on some which had been intentionally sawed off to eliminate competition with Man for the fish. Hopefully,as you say, the awareness will open some eyes and change the negligent behavior.
Sounds like a horrific situation with those pelicans, Ginny. Yes, catching these injured birds is nearly always a problem. DWR tried to catch these two mergansers but was unable to.
Thanks Tana and Teri. It was a team effort.
Thanks for the great work Ron.
Good Work, Ron!
And thank you to the three of you from me as well. I do hope there is a turn around in the careless behaviour which has cost birds their limbs and lives.
Me too, Elephant’s Child. Me too…
Thank you, Ron, Mia and Tom! This is what I treasure most about your blog, about the connections we make through these photos and words. In this case, your compassionate eye led to critical attention — on a topic that deserves so much more coverage than it generally gets.
Thanks very much, Ingrid. Hopefully the article will raise awareness of the problem and make a bit of a positive difference.
I think it all helps! Ignorance is probably behind most of the negligence. I did, however, encounter one situation back in the Bay Area where it appeared some fishermen had purposely baited hooks for birds. I walked out on a pier and saw pieces of fish laid along the rail. They were lightly stuck into the wooden rail with barbed fishing hooks (hidden by the meat) and trailing filament. It’s difficult not to see that as deliberate sabotage. I removed and deposited all of the hooks and line in a recycling canister and I’m pretty sure I got there before any birds were harmed. That was the first and only time I’ve seen that particular thing.