Mallory Loon Rescue
Dan Mallory
A few years ago we had an adult loon on our lake with a very distorted call because it had a large fishing spinner lure hanging from its beak. Unfortunately, we were not able to get close enough to remove it.
Fast forward to July 9th of this year, we noticed an adult loon fairly stationary all day in front of our cottage/home on Grey Owl Lake. We could see a fishing bobber next to its back end and assumed it was snared with fishing line. We almost caught it wearing a life jacket using a smelt fishing net but it managed to swim away. It was swimming slowly and could only dive a few inches under the water. My son Adam Mallory finally caught the bird as it was heading toward the Grey Owl Bridge - letting it go would have lead to its death not being able to dive for fish.
As you can see in the video link below, the fishing line and bobber were wrapped around its back end, wrapped around its left leg and there was an attached fishing hook in its body under its left wing which was removed.
It was a touching moment to free the loon when finished with the removal and to see that it was hanging around. I would like to think it was saying thank you for what we did to save its life.
My main reason for sharing this video and explanation is to remind anglers to be careful with their gear to be aware of the presence of loons. Fishermen should not be casting their lures if a loon is in the vicinity. As the lure looks like a fish, loons will go after it and likely die if they grab it.
If you get a snag, follow the line to its source before breaking the line to reduce the amount of line in the water for any number of water animals to get entangled.
Educate your children and guests when you can to keep our loons around.
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