Photo: Julie Ann Baccelli
The fishing lure and weight that injured a bird on the bay Wednesday, April 6. Photo: Julie Ann Baccelli

Julie Ann Baccelli had an experience Wednesday which goes to remind you that unexpected happenings can also be good things.

Baccelli was on jogging next to the bay with her Welsh Springer Spaniel, Gypsie. As the pair was running along the shore, Gypsie, who, it is worth knowing, is a bird dog, jumped into the bay and grabbed an injured bird out of the water. The grabbing was done with some care, however, as the video below demonstrates. The cute brown and white dog then brought the bird to her owner.

“I carefully took the flapping, injured bird from her mouth to discover that the bird had a fishing lure through its tongue and, attached to that, a heavy weight,” Baccelli wrote us. “Who knows how long this exhausted bird has been dragging this around for?”

YouTube video

Baccelli removed the hook from the bird’s tongue and unwrapped the fishing wire from its neck.

“I let the bird rest and recover in my arms for about 10 minutes and then released it happily into the bay!” she told us.

Baccelli said it was a wonderful experience, albeit one with so many unusual occurrences.

“The dog should have eaten the bird. The bird should have died from the hook and wire. The fisherman shouldn’t have left his hook and wire for a bird to consume,” she said. “Beating all the odds…. this beautiful bay bird, that lives in the protected space at Albany bayshore was saved. A good reminder to respect nature.”

YouTube video

Photo: Julie Ann Baccelli
Baccelli cradled the injured bird before releasing it back onto the water. Photo: courtesy Julie Ann Baccelli

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Tracey Taylor is co-founder of Berkeleyside and co-founder and editorial director of Cityside, the nonprofit parent to Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside. Before launching Berkeleyside, Tracey wrote for...