The Black-Backed Gull and that darn fishing rubbish......

A common occurrence for the wildlife officers is to have to rescue birds that get tangled up in fishing nylon or birds that swallow or get snagged on fishing hooks (or both in some cases). Sadly, once again, a Black-Backed Gull was found, having swallowed a hook. Unfortunately the damage that was inflicted by this hook meant that this beautiful bird had to be euthanised.

It turns out that the offending hook set up was off a long-line. How or when the bird got on to this, nobody knows, but a better effort needs to be made by all of us to pick up all of our fishing rubbish.

Did you know that the Black-Backed Gull is actually native to New Zealand? They are very common and the largest of the three main seagulls that NZ has. I guess this birds downfall when it comes to eating is it eats almost anything!! So all the more reason to pick up the rubbish!