We released this Kelp Gull at the Swakopmund sewage works. It was brought to us by Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources employees who found it in Walvis Bay, with a fish hook in its throat. The hook was attached to a stone by a length of nylon line. On closer inspection it could be seen that the hook had already penetrated the throat and was protruding through the skin beneath the chin. It was a simple matter of cutting off the barb with side-cutters and pulling the rest of the hook back out. As the gull swallows its food whole it swallows the hook as well. As it tries to fly away, because of the weight, the line is pulled tight resulting in the hook lodging itself in the bird's throat and most of the time ripping through the flesh. The obvious inference is that someone used a baited hook to trap it. Similar traps have been found near the Mile 4 Saltworks, with Cape Cormorants having been trapped.