Wildlife rescue volunteer Susan Clark was in Verona Sunday afternoon when the call came through: another animal entangled in fishing wire.
Clark, 50, of Tarentum, made the drive to Trafford’s BY Park, net and scissors in hand. She observed a gosling lagging behind its family in the pond, unable to swim properly.
A fishing hook had pierced the bird’s skin. Fishing line was wrapped around its right leg and lodged in its throat.
“Fishing line and litter and things that they can eat and get a hold of and get wrapped around in are extremely dangerous, because there’s not an ability for them to remove them,” she said. “As they continue to try to swim or fly, the fishing line will get more entangled or wrapped around a body part and eventually, if nobody sees them, render them to where they can’t swim, they can’t fly, they can’t eat.
“It’s a pretty slow, torturous death for just a couple of seconds of just picking up your fishing line and throwing it away.”
About a year ago, Clark joined Wildlife in Need, a statewide animal rescue organization. It receives calls from citizens regarding injured animals and alerts a network of about 140 volunteers. Whoever is available and close by heads to the scene.
Animal injuries related to fishing materials is all too common, said Suzanne DeArment, the organization’s founding president and executive director. Calls are starting to come in almost daily.
“We’re seeing a lot of line left out,” DeArment said. “But we do see good sportsmen who pull their line in and do not leave it behind.”
With the help of a Trafford police officer, Clark captured the injured gosling in a net, set it gently on the ground and sprawled out on the grass next to it to get a closer look at the tangled mess of wire.
She paused when she saw the wire in the bird’s mouth and the hook underneath its skin.
“You don’t necessarily want to just yank a hook out. You’re actually going to cause more damage than not,” she said. “With a fishing line in a mouth, you don’t know how deep that is. You don’t know how far down that is. It’s not a good thing to just pull on things when you can’t see where they’re coming from.”
Clark, who has a background in emergency services, drove the gosling to the Wildlife Works rehabilitation facility in Youngwood to receive further care. Officials there could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Wildlife in Need is always accepting new volunteers, Clark said. Those who want to become a capture and transport volunteer like herself have to take an animal handling class before taking on assignments. The organization also accepts dispatchers, who relay calls to volunteers, and animal transporters, who drive injured creatures to rehabilition facilities.
For more information on volunteering, visit winemergencyresponse.com. To report an injured animal, call 814-414-4224.
“You can’t really be part of a solution and make things better if you’re not willing to do your part,” Clark said.