Social Responsibility...

I was taking some shots at South Bank the other day and saw a Cormorant (aka Shag) sitting on this pile. With the light on the water and the way the bird was sitting drew me to the shot.

It looked fabulous until I zoomed into the image and saw that this poor bird had ingested some fishing tackle and was probably suffering terrible pain. Luckily some caring souls had already contact animal rescue about it and I thought twice about posting such a disturbing image on the blog.

However, one of the responsibilities of a photographer is to document real-life events, and whilst this wasn't what I had in mind at the time of shooting it, the image is a powerful indictment of recreational fishing in Brisbane. The damage that discarded lines, floats, hooks and so on can cause to wildlife and birds is simply catastrophic, so please be careful when you cut gear loose.