NEED TO KNOW

• An injured bird sought out medical attention at a local emergency room in Germany

• The cormorant — a seabird known for hunting fish — had gotten a three-pronged fishhook stuck in its beak

• The Bremen facility had to call in the fire department for backup with the rescue

One smart bird in need of medical attention knew exactly where to fly for help.

On Feb. 15, a Bremen, Germany, emergency room’s regular Sunday schedule was interrupted by a persistent knocking outside its door. When staff at Das Klinikum Links der Weser hospital went to check on the odd noise, they found an unlikely patient: a seabird, apparently injured and pecking at the window for help.

“We then saw at second glance that there was something metallic on his beak,” said facility employee Cihat Cirit, in Links der Weser’s Facebook post on Feb. 16, which was translated from the original German.

Upon closer inspection, the ER realized the cormorant — a water bird common throughout Europe, often seen as competition to fishermen because of its adept fish-hunting skills — had gotten a fishing hook stuck in its beak. The hospital took in the bird to get rid of the hook. However, removing the sharp object proved difficult, so difficult that the ER had to call in backup.

“A first attempt to capture the bird to concentrate on the problem more accurately failed,” the post read, so staff at Links der Weser reached out to Feuerwehr Bremen (the local fire department) for help. Together, fire department personnel and ER staff were able to “put the bird under control.”

The fire department ultimately cut off the three curved tips of the fishing hook, after which emergency medical personnel removed the remaining hook and cared for the cormorant’s wound.

“I haven’t experienced that in my 15 years of work so far,” Cirit said, per social media.

After the bird was successfully treated, the fire department escorted the cormorant to the park behind the clinic and released it back into the wilderness.

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In its own post, shared early on Feb. 16, the fire department noted that the bird had to have been in great peril to make an “extremely rare” appeal for human help.

“If an injured cormorant actually gets close to people, it is usually an animal in extreme distress that has lost its natural shyness,” read the fire department’s post, which was also translated from the original German. “The fishing hook in the bird’s beak could have led to infections, pain and even starvation!”

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