Owl injured by fishing hook recovering after rescue

A tawny owl that got caught in a tree with a fishing lure and hook stuck in its wing is expected to make a full recovery thanks to a passer-by and volunteers.

The owl was spotted by a dog walker hanging 6m (20ft) up in a tree near Stoke by Nayland in Suffolk on Tuesday.

A group of people answering an appeal for help on Facebook managed to cut part of the tree to reach the bird and took it to Colchester Owl Rescue.

Sarah Amos, 49, from Great Horkesley said her husband initially found the owl and its rescue was a "great team effort".

Mrs Amos's husband took a video of the bird, was able to see it was still alive, then posted on local Facebook groups asking for help.

"Between everybody on social media we managed to get a team of people to help," she said.

"We thought the poor thing had died but it was actually just hanging on to life and it managed to move and tell us it was alive so we could get help for it."

Katrina Myers, owner of Colchester Owl Rescue, said she believed had the owl not been saved, it most likely would have died.

"He was in complete exhaustion and pain," she said.

"We don't know how long he was hanging and he was flapping quite a lot when he was first discovered."

The fishing lure's hook was caught in the middle of the owl's wing, which Ms Myers said they were eventually able to remove.

"Tawnies are a wood bird... they will roost up in the trees and we do get this quite a lot with tawnies because of the trees around rivers, lakes and ponds," she continued.

"They can't see the hook or fishing line and unfortunately they get snared and tangled up."

The owl is now receiving pain relief and is resting, and Ms Myers expects it will make a full recovery.

She thanked those who had assisted in rescuing the bird.

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