Russell's "Bird Lady" is appealing to fishermen to be careful with hooks and lines after rescuing a bloodied shag so tangled in nylon it could barely move.
The bird was found on Donkey Bay, near Long Beach, earlier this month by a Kerikeri woman visiting her brother in Russell.
The distraught woman phoned Gilly Jackson, who is regularly called on to rescue entangled birds, and managed to catch it in a towel while her brother gathered the necessary tools, including pliers, scissors and bolt cutters.
The trio spent 40 minutes painstakingly removing hooks from its beak and chest, as well as swivels, sinkers and fishing line wrapped around its neck, feet and wings.
Once they had cut off the barb and pulled the hook from its beak the shag "went into quiet mode" and made no attempt to escape.