Local news
Margate vet pleads with fishermen not to discard fishing tackle after stork’s terrible ordeal
Luckily, the bird got a second chance at life.
An adult female Woolly-necked stork has luckily recovered after an ordeal of having not one – but two fish hooks lodged inside its body.
The bird was recently found in a private garden in St Michaels, and was unable to fly.
The female, one of a pair has been nesting in the garden.
Woolly-necked storks used to be quite rare sightings on the KZN South Coast, but have become much more common in recent years.
After herding it into an enclosed area, inspectors from the Lower South Coast SPCA, collected it and brought it to Margate Vet Hospital, where Dr Kirsten van Stryp removed a fish hook from its wing, but noted this line also extended into its beak.
This morning they were surprised to see that she had laid an egg overnight, unfortunately it was broken.
An x-ray was taken, showing an additional small fish-hook embedded in its gizzard (stomach).
Dr Leon Bruggemann said, luckily they were able to remove it uneventfully, and the bird was released back to its home turf.
Hopefully, to continue laying more eggs and completing a successful incubation.
Dr Bruggemann said this is such an unfortunate problem that befalls so many birds, especially seabirds that swallow bait containing hooks, or just get unlucky to get tangled in fishing line remains left indiscriminately on the beach, together with all the other rubbish produced and littered around by humans who are supposed to be looking after God’s beautiful creation.
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