Basil hooked by rubbish in river
Melanie Crookston-Smith and her husband, Aaron Smith, were expecting a fun and relaxing Saturday evening when they took their Golden Retriever, Basil, for a swim at the Robin Hood recreational reserve on August 4.
Instead, someone else’s rubbish cost them more than $1000 and several stressful hours waiting anxiously at the West Gippsland Veterinary Clinic to hear if their beloved pet was going to be okay.
‘Basil is two and a half years old, and we have had him since he was a puppy. He is very well behaved; we take him to obedience training every Sunday morning,’ said Melanie. ‘He also loves to swim, and will do so until he’s so exhausted that he will sleep all the way home. We often joke that his middle name is “fish”.’
Melanie and Aaron regularly take Basil to swim in the Tarago River on a Saturday. Each time, the couple will spend a few minutes cleaning up any rubbish in the reserve while they are there, to help keep the area clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.
‘We quite often see beer cans in summer, as well as food waste and other rubbish when we go there. On this occasion, Basil found a lovely piece of beef that was unfortunately attached to a bright red fishing hook and line,’ Melanie said.
They could see Basil was sniffing excitedly at something near a rock, so Melanie called him over. Unfortunately it was too late; the piece of fishing line was hanging out of his mouth.
‘I pulled on the fishing line, and the chunk of beef came up, and then more fishing line. I