Catch and release, seagull-style

THE MUSKOKAN — It’s hard to spend a day on the lake in Muskoka and not notice the abundance of windswept pine trees, crisp blue water and the roar of powerboats.
But on Sunday, it was the movement of a distressed baby seagull flapping around in the waters of Lake Muskoka that turned a boat ride into a rescue operation for myself and my parents.
“I think someone has shot that bird with an arrow,” my dad called out as we doubled back in our boat to get a better look at the little brown-feathered puffball which had a yellow piece of plastic stuck in its wing.
After circling around, we could see that the yellow plastic was actually a nine-barbed fishing lure with hooks lodged in the bird’s mouth, wing and foot webbing. We also realized that the bird was entirely ensnared and unable to swim or fly.
So off we raced, back to the house to find tools to help the bird. We returned minutes later and scooped the bird into a garbage can with a pair of heavy-duty work gloves.
Not knowing anything about birds, and being afraid of further injuring the baby seagull, we moved the bucket from boat to truck and headed down Highway 11 to the Muskoka Wildlife Centre.
After a brief 15-minute surgery, two wildlife staff and myself were able to cut five barbs off the lure to remove it and to give the bird mobility.
“That bird surely would have died if it was left in the lake,” said full-time staffer Katrina Hunt who headed up the surgery.
Hunt added that when she’s fishing and she loses a lure, she makes sure to get it back.
“It’s not at all uncommon to hear about birds and animals eating brightly coloured fishing lures and dying because they become unable to eat or move,” said Hunt.
She then advised us to release the bird back where it was originally found.
Affectionately named ‘Captain Hook,’ we drove back to the lake and released the bird beside a seagull island, mere yards from where we had first noticed it in distress.
But even as we released the bird to swim with its winged colleagues, we could see a small cluster of fishing boats casting towards the far tip of the seagull island.
It’s the beauty of Muskoka and the abundance of fishing hot spots that draw tens of thousands of fishermen from across Ontario each summer. However, the damage done by careless fishing is one activity that residents of Muskoka should hope never catches on.
Matthew Irving is a freelance journalist, science writer and general animal lover.

Small - Large
|
Print
|
Email
|
|