After saving a bird whose feet were hooked and shackled together by a lure, three young boys and their dad are calling on the community to think about the environment.
Kingswood dad Chris White and his three sons Nate, 7, Chet, 8, and Kurt, 10, were testing out their new fishing rods near the Nepean River, when they saw a distressed bird on the water.
“Chet noticed the bird flapping near the boat in the water and he ran over and said it had a fishing hook stuck in it,” Mr White said.
Together, they tried to hold the bird down to get the three hooks out of each of its feet, that were restricting it from moving.
“There was a gentleman there, Craig Anderson from Maritime Services, and he gave us a hand. Between us all we held it down, I had to cut the barbs off the hooks with the pliers,” he said.
“He was only young, he would have died for sure if we didn’t take it out.”
While Mr White was relieved the bird was freed, he said this incident served as a swift reminder to make sure everyone takes their belongings with them when they leave.
A NSW Office of Environment and Heritage spokesperson said discarded fishing products can have unintended but disastrous impacts on our native wildlife.
“The shortest piece of line or the smallest hook or lead weight left behind can injure or kill wildlife,” she said.
“Plastic bags, bait bags and nets left behind also pose a very serious hazard to marine life.”
For more information, visit http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational.
