A stricken goose has been rescued by the RSPCA nearly a week after becoming ensnared in a fishing line.
The injured female Canadian goose was saved by animal welfare officers on Thursday afternoon after a fishing line and hook became entangled around her neck and body last week, preventing her from eating.
An officer from the RSPCA and a specialist water officer attended to help free the bird, who was swimming at Platt’s Lodge next to Scaitcliffe House in Accrington.
Emma Mycock, manager of Globe Enterprises which owns Platt’s Lodge, called the RSPCA.
She said the goose had become trapped in a hook and line left by an angler at the lake.
Emma said: “I got a phone call on Friday to inform us that we had an injured goose on the lodge so I made calls to the RSPCA. By Monday morning we found that she was still down there swimming around the lodge and the RSPCA couldn’t actually get to her. Eventually they sent the special water team to try and save her. She had a double ended triple hook that was embedded between her chest and mouth. She’s not been able to eat as she’s had the wires wrapped around her neck.”
After RSPCA officers were unable to reach the goose, they enlisted the help of a specialist water officer from Liverpool.
RSPCA animal collection officer Derek Sampson went onto the lake in a boat and was able to bring the Canada goose in for medical treatment.
Once on dry land he and another RSPCA officer removed the hook, bait and fishing line from the goose’s beak and neck and she was able to rejoin her family near the lodge.
Fishing is permitted on one side of the lodge, and bailiffs patrol the other side to prevent unlawful fishing.
Emma said that other birds had also been injured by fishing equipment left by the Lodge.
She said: “It’s not the first one unfortunately, the shame is the people who have been leaving the hooks by the lake.
“We’ve had reports of a swan with hook in its mouth, and there was a baby swan that died last year which resulted in its mother and father leaving the area. We try and take the best care of the birds that come in here and make sure the area’s kept as clean and safe as possible, but unfortunately there are sometimes fishing hooks left at the fishing points.”
