Wildlife Entanglement

Entanglement means a wild animal has become caught in something it cannot get out of on its own: discarded fishing line and hooks, fruit or pond netting, sports nets left out overnight, string, kite line, plastic packaging rings, loose wire fencing, or ordinary litter. Improperly discarded fishing line and tackle along shorelines, lakes and ponds is one of the most frequent causes, and organisations like the RSPCA rescue hundreds of animals a year from netting alone. Birds, hedgehogs, waterfowl, turtles, snakes, foxes, deer and marine mammals are all affected. Once caught, an animal usually cannot fly, walk, feed or escape a predator, and struggling tends to make the tangle tighter rather than looser.

The material itself causes most of the damage. Thin line and mesh work their way through fur, feathers and skin, then act like a tourniquet, cutting off blood supply to a leg, wing or beak. Wounds are often much deeper than they look from the outside and can be completely hidden under a coat of feathers or spines. Tissue that has been starved of circulation may only die off days after the animal is freed, which is why an apparently unharmed animal can still be in serious trouble. Add to that fractures, nerve damage, swallowed hooks lodged in the gullet or stomach, risk of strangulation, and the exhaustion, dehydration and hunger that come from hours or days of being stuck. Prolonged entanglement can leave permanent damage to skin, feathers, muscle, nerve and bone. Outcomes are sobering: the Wildlife Center of Virginia reports that close to 60 percent of the animals it has admitted with fishing gear injuries since 2011 either died or had to be euthanised.

If you find an entangled animal

• Phone before you act. A vet clinic or a licensed wildlife rescue can tell you whether to intervene and where to take the animal.
• Do not simply cut an animal loose and let it go. Hidden wounds, hook fragments and circulation damage need an examination.
• Keep your own safety in mind. Herons, birds of prey, gulls, swans, foxes and deer can injure you badly, and stress alone can kill a struggling wild animal.
• For containment, a dark, quiet, ventilated box in a warm room is far better than a cage. Skip food and water unless you are told otherwise.
• If you can safely cut the anchoring end of the line or net, do so, but leave the material near the skin for the vet to remove under sedation.

At the clinic, removal is usually done with sedation or anaesthesia so the tangle can be unpicked without further tearing. X-rays check for hooks and fractures, and treatment typically involves wound care, pain relief, antibiotics and fluids, followed by a rehabilitation period to confirm the animal can fly, swim or forage before release. Who may legally hold and rehabilitate wild animals varies by country, so vets normally work alongside permitted rehabilitators. Pets get caught out too: dogs swallow baited hooks and cats become tangled in netting.

This is general information. Anything entangled, wild or domestic, should be seen by a vet.