Llandudno’s lifeboat crew acted as Good Samaritans yesterday evening (Thursday) to save the life of a trapped and injured cormorant.
The stricken seabird had become entangled in a mass of discarded fishing lines and weights at the seaward end of Llandudno pier, and had a fish hook piercing its breast.
The tide was rising and the bird was therefore in danger of being trapped underwater and drowning, so the RSPCA asked if the RNLI could help.
Llandudno lifeboat crew members Tim James and Danny Jones were already at the lifeboat house preparing for a routine training exercise, and were able to quickly launch the station’s inshore lifeboat and motor out to the pierhead.
Wrapping the goose-sized cormorant and its entangling gear in a thick coat, and keeping well clear of its powerful beak they brought it ashore to the slipway, where station mechanic Les Jones was able to extricate the fish hook from its breast.
The injured cormorant, secured inside a large plastic box, was then handed over to an RSPCA Inspector for a vet to insert stitches in a two-inch tear in its skin, after which the bird was expected to make a full recovery.
