Isabel Ma, Plastic Crown of Thorns (Animal & Nature 2021)

I didn’t realise it was our final farewell as I took these photos of the Australasian Grebe. These photos are some of the last images I took of the grebe. I have been taking pictures of wildlife at a local reserve. I love watching the Australasian Grebes. With them it is always like playing hide and seek. They dive and they disappear. They are simply interesting to watch. It was a Tuesday when I first noticed something was wrong. The grebe did not dive at all during the time I was there, not even for a single time. It was strange for an expert diver like it not to dive for so long. I took some photos of it. A closer look at the images revealed that there was a plastic net tangled around its head and in its beak. The helpless, distressed bird was clearly struggling to rid of the net, and of course it failed. It was basically impossible for the grebe to free itself from the net, no matter how hard it tried. I feel so sorry and responsible for the pain it suffered, caused my me, us – humans. Worrying that it would die because of its injury, and possible inability to dive or feed, I contacted NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. (WIRES). They responded quickly. Although they did not have the appropriate floatation device at the time, they continued to re-assess and attempt to save the grebe. They also took my humble suggestion to contact NSW State Emergency Service (SES) for assistance, and a team of approximately 10 SES volunteers kindly joined the rescue on the Wednesday. The WIRES and SES volunteers spent hours searching for and attempting to rescue the grebe. It was a rainy day and the grebe managed to dive again, which made the rescue even more difficult. The attempted rescue was not successful in the end. The volunteers were worried that the grebe could weaken and die due to its condition. I continued to go to the reserve everyday after the attempted rescue and was hoping the grebe would come closer to the edge of the pond/lake. Since the attempted rescue on the Wednesday, I had only last spotted the grebe on the Friday, when I took these pictures, and yet it was still out of reach. I had not been able to locate it since then. I was notified by the WIRES volunteer on the Monday that the grebe’s body was found. The plastic net around its head was tangled in the reeds, which likely immobilised the grebe and subsequently caused its death. It was not even a week since the situation being reported to WIRES. Animals in the wild can be extremely resilient yet fragile, and we, humans, seem to have sometimes made life more difficult for them. I could not help but reflecting repeatedly on what I could have done further or differently to help rescue the grebe. I also realised that photography is a powerful means of observation and storytelling. During the communication with WIRES, some earlier images of the grebe assisted in communicating the nature and the intensity of the grebe’s condition. The images were also sent to other volunteers who took part in the rescue and were shared on their communication channels. I am extremely grateful for, and moved by the tremendous effort and time of WIRES and SES volunteers, who have gone above and beyond in their attempts to rescue the grebe.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.