Was out relaxing for some fishing on Naples Pier and one of the other fisher people had accidentally hooked a seagull. This can happen if you are fishing with a bait that does not sink quickly, and you are not paying attention to how aggressive the birds are that day.
This can obviously be pretty traumatic for the bird and while the hook itself might not create much if any lasting damage, it's the struggle the bird goes through while on the line that can really hurt it.
Fortunately, in this case the fisherman got the bird onto the pier but he couldn't get the hook out. I was fishing nearby and when I saw he wasn't able to get the bird off the hook I went over with my needle nose pliers and we quickly released the bird. It's hard to see in the photo but look for the 2 red arrows above the fishing rods. That's the just released seagull starting to fly away.
Pet Sitters are animal lovers by default. So when I saw what was happening I ran over there and helped. I am happy it was my pliers that did the trick and the bird was fine physically. The key is to pay attention when fishing to avoid unintended catches to begin with!
This can obviously be pretty traumatic for the bird and while the hook itself might not create much if any lasting damage, it's the struggle the bird goes through while on the line that can really hurt it.
Fortunately, in this case the fisherman got the bird onto the pier but he couldn't get the hook out. I was fishing nearby and when I saw he wasn't able to get the bird off the hook I went over with my needle nose pliers and we quickly released the bird. It's hard to see in the photo but look for the 2 red arrows above the fishing rods. That's the just released seagull starting to fly away.
Pet Sitters are animal lovers by default. So when I saw what was happening I ran over there and helped. I am happy it was my pliers that did the trick and the bird was fine physically. The key is to pay attention when fishing to avoid unintended catches to begin with!
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