'Cormorant dies a cruel slow death due to fishing line with hook

This awful description posted publicly on the Kansas birding listserve today of a cormorant dying a slow cruel death due to a thoughtless fisherman is just so sad: "While birding the River Pond area of Tuttle Creek State Park during the Man= hattan Christmas Bird Count, I spotted what looked like a bird hanging from= a tree on the island in River Pond. I positioned my scope on it and saw wh= at appeared to be a large lifeless bird dangling from a tree limb. Once in = a while there appeared to be movement. Winds were calm. On closer inspectio= n the bird turned out to be a double-crested cormorant that apparently swal= lowed a fish hook, and the line on the hook caught on the end of a thin syc= amore branch bending down under the weight of the bird like a fishing pole = with a large fish on the line. The line appeared to be wrapped around a fru= it of the tree (or ball of seeds) that I first took for a bobber. The bird = flapped its wings from time-to-time, most definitely alive, and hopelessly = caught. What a cruel way to go. John RowManhattan, Kansas" Fishermen--pack out and properly dispose of your fishing line and especially when it has a hook attached. SeEtta

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