Blog

Albatross Entanglement

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

WIRES recently had a very special bird in care. Initially, two albatrosses were seen entangled in fishing line by an alert member of the public.

He rang to report that the birds were in serious trouble and couldn’t fly.

Luckily, a WIRES volunteer was in Eden at the time and quickly went to the rescue. Sadly, the male bird was dead.

However, the female only had an injury to one of her legs. She spent five days in care and dined on fresh squid!

After the 5 days of treatment, she was ready to be released but there was another problem. She would have to be released well out to sea and nobody in WIRES has a boat. NSW Maritime came to our aid and Darren Hulm, of NSW Maritime, invited the albatross and her WIRES minders to take a boat ride a couple of kilometres out to sea.

After a bit of hesitation, this magnificent bird, with a wing span of 2.4 metres took to flight. Albatross mate for life so she may be lonely for while. We are hoping that she finds a new mate for her to spend the rest of her life with.

Anglers, please take all fishing line, empty plastic bait bags and hooks with you when you finish fishing.

These items left behind kill and maim thousands of birds each year.

Anyone who does come across any of these items whilst walking on the beach or a pier, please collect them and take them home. When disposing of fishing line, please be sure to cut it up into small pieces so that foraging birds at the tip don’t get caught up in it.