Bird has surgery to remove fishhooks

ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post

X-ray showing fish hooks and fishing lures inside the young shag.

Vet Angelina Martelli checks breathing while head vet Francois Lampen and resident vet Micah Jensen remove a fishing lure from the shag's abdomen at Wellington Zoo

The fishing lure is removed from the shag’s abdomen.

The fishing lure after being removed from the shag’s abdomen.

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Vets at Wellington Zoo are hopeful that a starving young pied shag that was found to have fishhooks in its stomach will make a full recovery.

The bird, estimated to be six months old, survived two hours of emergency surgery at the zoo's animal hospital, The Nest, yesterday.

Veterinarian Francois Lampen said cutting into the bird's stomach and removing the hooks, which were attached to a fishing lure and line, was a tricky procedure.

"In all honesty I didn't give it much of a chance of a survival."

Although zoo staff were unsure of the little bird's sex, they have taken to calling it "Peter the pied shag".

They would now be watching its recovery closely before eventually freeing it into the wild.

Peter was found in Evans Bay in Wellington on Monday by a member of the public, and taken to the SPCA, where another fishhook was removed from its foot.

"He was reasonably depressed. He became weak very quickly and was in a serious condition," Dr Lampen said.

During the surgery vets were surprised to discover a rubber fish about 10 centimetres long in the shag's stomach.

Dr Lampen said the fake fish may have been laced with bait, which had lured Peter to eat it after it had been discarded and left behind by a fisherman.

Peter was found entangled in the line the fake fish was on, with part of the line hanging from its mouth. "If it hadn't been for a caring member of the public, the bird would have died a horrid death from starvation."

Zoo staff would now watch Peter carefully to ensure the bird was putting on weight.

They also hoped recreational fishermen would be careful not to discard hooks and lines around the coast.

"There is a responsible way of fishing. Take your fishing equipment away with you."

Conservation Department biodiversity programme manager Peter Simpson said people should report seeing birds in distress to the department, although staff might not always be able to reach them in time.

He was not surprised to hear of Peter's plight, and said though the incident was not common, seabirds did unfortunately occasionally become entangled in fishing line.

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