Last year our Rescue Team attended 2,092 jobs involving animals with entanglements or were trapped in different places.
Despite the emphasis being placed on wildlife affected by the rubbish we discard; domestic animals are not immune from the consequences of our bad habits.
Take Marlin the cat’s story for example. Earlier this year our Rescue Officers received a job for an emaciated, stray cat which had a fishhook in his mouth.
Marlin disappeared when our Rescue Team attempted to approach, but eventually third time as a charm and Marlin was brought into care via a cat trap.
Rescue Officer Amy said once he came into care it was clear that this poor cat didn't just have a fishhook caught in his mouth, but that the fishing line attached had travelled all the way through his body and was hanging out of his backside.
"Marlin went straight into surgery and the fishhook and line was removed. After pulling through from his ordeal he was cleared to go into foster care," says Amy.
Several other animal rescue call outs have come to RSPCA attention since the start of the year due to entanglement. But sadly, once rescued, these poor animals didn’t survive their injuries: a Peewee from Greenslopes suffering severe entanglement, a Brush turkey also severely impacted by fishing line, and a Cormorant wrapped in fishing line around its neck and foot.
Recently, our Rescue Team also saved a crow from a certain painful death - its leg wrapped in fishing line, dangling from the very top of a pine tree.
These stories serve as timely reminders of the harm rubbish and discarded fishing gear in our waterways can do to animals great and small.
