Blue heron entangled by fish hooks saved by kayaker and friends on Oromocto River
CBC
Blue herons are a common sight on Nancy Brown's regular kayak trips. But while paddling on the Oromocto River in southwestern New Brunswick recently, she saw something that haunted her.
At first, it was an eagle that drew her attention. When she paddled a little closer to get a photo, the bird didn't fly away.
"Something was keeping him there," Brown said.
Then she noticed a blue heron emerging from the grassy water's edge.
She took a few pictures and as she looked closer, Brown noticed multiple fish hooks and an eel stuck in the heron's tongue.
"I wanted to get help right away. But … the heron flew when he saw my kayak and the eagle had followed him. So I had paddled over to where they landed and saw them starting to kind of fight," she said.
"There were some noises coming from the heron. It sounded horrible. I don't think they actually touched each other. I tried to contact people for help, but didn't get any answers. So I sadly paddled away."
But Brown said she couldn't stop thinking about that heron.
Pam Novak, the wildlife care director at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute in southeastern New Brunswick, about 20 kilometres north of Sackville, said the institute got a call about the bird from Brown that day.
She said it was clear from the photos that it wasn't an entanglement the heron could get out of on its own. Unfortunately, she said the institute's distance from the bird, and a lack of field resources, meant there wasn't much she could do.
"It was really up to anybody in the field that was able to help try to catch this bird and to get that fishing line off of them," Novak said.
The next day, Brown returned to the site. This time, she found the heron weaker and unable to fly. So she posted another call-out on Facebook to see if anyone could help.
Eventually, she got a message from her friend Chris Barrett who brought his friend Mark Robinson to help.
Barrett, via email, said the hooks were in the heron's tongue and neck, "with an eel hanging from one of the hooks."
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