Injured Swan

Not a happy 2 weeks here in the reserve.The female Swan has a fishing hook(we think) ,lodged either in the side of her mouth,or in her throat.It was 1st noticed the Wed before Xmas,and constant calls to the RSPCA have been made  ever sibnce to the present day.The matter was taken up by an E-mail reporter,Ross Tyson,who in turn contacted the RSPCA and according to an article in this evenings paper(almost 2 weeks later) ,some sort of help for this very unhappy Swan is being activated,not a satisfactory situation.

  • Hi Chris. Yes this is a very sad situation indeed. As I am sure you are aware the RSPB does not have any welfare or rescue facilities, but in the instances where injured birds are found on our reserves, we try to do our utmost to help them where possible. We would contact, as you have, either the RSPCA or a local wildlife hospital. Such organisations should be able to collect and treat such animals.

    Do you know whether the RSPCA actually attended the scene at the point of the first phone call? A hook in any birds bill can cause all sorts of problems, but whilst they are able to fly they may be able to evade capture for rehabilitation. I do hope the swan makes a full recovery.

  • Thankyou for message.No the RSPCA did not make any contact when the incident was 1st reported.When our warden returns from holiday,I am going to suggest,that perhaps at the next RSPB meeting,an RSPCA rep is present,this is the 2cnd time in a year that this has happened,a few mths ago,one of the cygnets(belonging to this pr of adults),had a fishing hook attached to its neck for at least 2 weeks,before we could summon help,again it was the holiday period.Apparently ,at the moment,the fishing line is no longer dangling from the beak of the Swan,but the fishing hook can still be seen.