Young Canada Goose Gets Fishing Line Caught In Stomach

The following story was shared with us by the Schuylkill Center Wildlife Clinic in Pennsylvania.

A young Canada gosling was brought to the clinic in obvious distress with a large stone weight hanging from her mouth that was attached to a length of fishing line. When we were unable to manually remove the line under anesthesia, we suspected the other end of the line was attached to something that was now lodged in her stomach or esophagus. Radiographs confirmed our suspicions that a fishing hook was lodged in the upper stomach lining, which needed to be surgically removed.

The surgery was a complete success, and the gosling’s recovery went very smoothly. For the first few days of recovery we gavage-fed the gosling the recommended mixture of EmerAid Intensive Care Omnivore and Herbivore. When we were certain that she was processing foods normally and there were no ongoing issues with the digestive tract, we were able to reintroduce solid foods. After her recovery, we introduced her to two other orphaned goslings we had in care so they could socialize together.

They all moved to a large outdoor enclosure with a pool and lots of fresh greenery. After nearly two months in care, all three goslings were happily returned to the wild.