A man helped free a Canadian icon entangled in fishing line and a barbed hook this week.

Ethan Bartolozzi was at Deer Lake on Sunday, June 24, when he came across a Canada goose just lying on the ground.

When he looked closer, he found a fishing line with a barbed hook stuck in the goose. With the help of bystanders, Bartolozzi removed the hook and cut the line, freeing the bird, which limped away.

"I guess they were quite lucky," said Yolanda Brooks, from the Burnaby-based Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. The association generally advises people to wrap animals up, put them in a box and bring them to the centre, where they can rehabilitate the creatures. Sometimes when animals are frightened, they can attack people, Brooks said.

"If the goose could walk away on its legs, it was not a serious injury, and it will probably heal itself," she said. "They got the fishing wire off and did a good job helping the animal."

Brooks said the association gets several cases a year of water birds entangled in fishing line, and sometimes it's quite serious.

"It sort of kills them slowly," she said. "We always say to people who are out fishing to discard of the line properly.

Don't leave it lying around. It will kill wildlife."