An osprey that got tangled in twine and caught on a power pole is back with its family.
Carol Kelly, executive director at Medicine River Wildlife Centre, said someone spotted the osprey hanging upside down from the power pole near Dickson Dam early in the evening last Tuesday.
The wildlife centre was contacted and called FortisAlberta, which sent out a linesman who was able to rescue the bird close to around midnight.
“We’ve been out to osprey tangled in stuff for years. I’m not sure why. Is there that much garbage out there in the water that they get tangled in?”
The bird suffered some minor lesions on its legs, and Gwen Marshall, the centre’s wildlife conflict specialist, took the osprey home that night to protect it from predators.
“The next morning, it was right and eager to get going. I think it was just suffering from stress after hanging upside down for a long time,” Kelly said.
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She said three weeks ago, an osprey chick was also tangled in twine. FortisAlberta had a video feed set up on the nest and a viewer saw the problem.
FortisAlberta untangled that chick too, and made sure there was nothing else in the nest that could harm the chicks.
Kelly said it would be nice if people made sure to take their garbage home instead of leaving it behind to harm wildlife.
“Be a clean species. Clean up after yourselves,” she advised.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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