The vast majority of anglers are highly responsible and would never knowingly set out to harm a platypus. Nonetheless, it is by no means uncommon for a platypus to be injured or even killed by fishing hooks or fishing line.
A loop of discarded nylon fishing line can easily encircle a platypus’s body as the animal searches for food and is almost impossible for the animal to remove due to the structure of its front and back feet (Serena and Williams 2022). The line will gradually cut through skin and muscle until either the line falls off or the platypus dies. This can take a long time – for example, a dying platypus was discovered on the banks of a Victorian lake with one loop of fishing line around its chest that had actually sawed through the animal’s ribs, opening up its lung cavity.
We’ve also heard of many instances when a platypus has been accidentally hooked by an angler, most often when a hook becomes embedded in the bill or front foot as line is reeled in.
The presence of a hook in its bill or foot is a huge and very painful problem for a platypus. The risk to the animal is compounded if the line is cut: we know of numerous cases where a platypus has died after line trailing from a fishing hook became tangled around a submerged branch (Serena and Williams 2010). The animal then either drowned or died of exhaustion after trying unsuccessfully to break free. We also know of cases where a platypus has died of exhaustion after it became impaled on a baited hook set overnight to catch fish (Serena and Williams 2010).
If you fish in places where platypus occur, you can do a lot to prevent such tragedies from happening:
- Make it your habit to retrieve all fishing line and lures from the banks and water.
- If you notice that a platypus is feeding nearby while you’re fishing, either stop fishing until the animal moves away or relocate your activities a short distance upstream or downstream.
- If a hook becomes lodged in a platypus, don’t cut the line. Instead, reel the animal in gently and remove the hook (taking great care to avoid the animal’s spurs if it’s an adult male).
- Never leave fishing lines unattended for any length of time. (Apart from the danger it poses to wildlife, this is illegal in most places.)
Photos courtesy of M. Taillard (above), S. Byass (below)
LITERATURE CITED
Serena M and Williams G (2010) Factors contributing to platypus mortality in Victoria. The Victorian Naturalist 127, 178-183.
Serena M and Williams GA (2022) Factors affecting the frequency and outcome of platypus entanglement by human rubbish. Australian Mammalogy 44, 81-86.