A female osprey now named Symphony is doing well after a painful encounter with a hook and fishing line.
"We were notified Sunday morning that there was a bird hung up on the platform, so we sent some volunteers out to look, and we did see the line," Raptor Center of Tampa Bay President Nancy Murrah said.
In one of the photos, you can see the fishing line hanging from the nest on this platform where the female osprey, her mate and two babies were when she got tangled up in the line. Murrah said the osprey got tangled in one of the six fishing lines a homeowner in Apollo Beach left out. The same people then cut the line when she got tangled. That's when she flew back to the nest with the hook and line still attached to her. "Within 35 minutes, he had a bucket truck there. We had gotten the maintenance people. They had to move some pylons to get the truck out to where the platform was. And they sent someone up. We had a volunteer on the ground, and we got the bird down," Murrah said.
TECO workers jumped into action, providing one of their bucket trucks, so volunteers could retrieve the bird and safely remove the fishing line and the hook.
What they're saying:
"It was kind of heart-wrenching when the guy got up there with the bucket, she jumped and she tried to fly. And, of course, she was caught by the lines. And that is the reason we were able to get her, because then she was very slowly lowered to the ground by that line," Murrah said.
It was a team effort to save a mother osprey. Murrah said her babies should be just fine with their dad while she's rehabbed.
"She has a very good mate who was this entire time not only feeding the two chicks that are in the nest, which are big, full-size osprey, but he was also feeding her," Murrah said.
What's next:
For now, Murrah said they'll monitor Symphony and wait for her wing to heal and the puncture wound to close before she is released back into the wild and able to return to the nest.
"If you're going to fish, go out there and fish responsibly, make sure to remove all your fishing line don't leave anything around take what you take out there with you and take it back in," Murrah said.
What you can do:
If you come across a bird tangled in fishing line, never cut the line and call a rehaber. You can find local rehabbers by visiting AnimalHelpNow.org.
