You can catch a lot of things with fishing line. And if you’re not careful about disposing of old fishing line you can accidentally catch a lot of things you don’t want to catch.
Discarded fishing line left near the water can have harmful effects on wildlife, and it’s not uncommon for birds and other animals to get tangled in the mess.
Perfect example – this little screech owl in New Jersey that got its wing wrapped up in someone’s old fishing line and was left dangerously hanging from a tree. Had the fisherman in this video not stumbled upon the bird then it likely would have died as a result of the entanglement.
Even once freed from the tangling line, the line was ensnared so tightly around its wing that if not for the fishermen’s delicate work with a nail clipper then the owl likely would not have regained function of its win.
“I was fishing in the woods when I heard the loud crying for help. It was a cute screech owl tangled in fishing line attached to a tree, so it was swinging like a pendulum pivoted to the branch.
It took a while to get him free of the line but I think in the end he was fine. He flew across the lake without any problems.”
Lucky for the owl though, it was set free.
Not often do you get such a close up look at owls though. Those are some wild birds, man. Look at the crazy eyes on that thing.
