14 January 2010

Bird found with hook in its throat on road to recovery

AN injured wild duck which swallowed a barbed hook is making a quacking recovery - thanks to a family in Cambridgeshire.Christina Ashman spotted the ailing bird on the river near her home in Burwell, and she and her daughter Stephanie managed to grab the creature and take it to a vet at Newmarket.When the bird was Xrayed, a fishing hook could clearly be seen stuck in its throat.Chris The X-ray of the duck showed the treble hook stuck in its neck The hook inside is a barbed one, which I thought was illegal."Often when this sort of thing happens, the bird has to be put down, but we managed to get the duck to Swayne and Partners at Newmarket, and a vet there saved its life."The wild duck population has fallen in recent years, and I don't know whether it has anything to do with this sort of incident. "But we hope that by highlighting what happened in the News, it might persuade anglers to stop using these hooks."A spokeswoman for the veterinary surgery said:"The duck was in a bad state. Because of the hook, it hadn't been able to eat, and was absolutely ravenous.If we didn't get the hook out, it would have starved to death."Because of the three barbs on the hook, we were not able to draw the hook out, so we had to make an incision near the bird's jugular vein, and get it out that way."We then kept the bird here for several days tubefeeding it."Inspector Chris Nice, of the RSPCA, said: "I think the hooks are still legal, but we do urge anglers not to use them. There are lots of alternatives around. If they must be used, it's vital to ensure the line is of the right strength, and doesn't snap, which seems to be what happened in this case."slop, Stephanie's fiancé, said: "The duck had come up from the water to feed, and there was a wire line hanging out of its beak.