This was the disturbing image that met a rescue boat crew from Burnham-On-Sea this week when they helped wildlife carers reach an injured swan.
BARB’s rescue boat was called to Westhay, near Shapwick, to help Secret World’s carers reach the distressed bird, which had swallowed a fishing line and got a hook and float embedded in its neck and beak, as pictured above.
BARB crewmembers took Secret World’s Graeme Thompson on the charity’s inshore rescue boat to retrieve the animal with a net after a walker had reported the animal’s condition.
Graeme told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This was one of the worst injured birds I have seen for a long time.”
He added: “Once it was retrieved with the help of the boat, the bird was taken to Quantock Vets, where a pair of cutters was used to remove the hooks.”
“We also found it had swallowed a length of line, so the bird was put on a drip to re-hydrate it before it was anaesthetised so that an X-ray could be carried out to check for further swallowed hooks and allow the line to be removed from its throat.”
“The rescue would not have been possible without the boat crew ‘s help and the bird is now recovering.”
“This incident serves as a reminder to anglers to think twice when discarding unused fishing line – it can have terrible consequences for animals.”
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