A poorly swan. What shall I do?

So gov.uk says call RSPCA or contact your local council. The RSPCA's robot almost literally told me "your call is not important to us" and the local council can do dead animals removals, but this one isn't dead. I ended up emailing Defra's helpdesk. It's amazing there's no simple way to report sick birds, considering how dangerous the flu is.

I can understand why RSPCA don't want to get involved as there's not a lot they can do except euthanaze. Not charitable money well spent, and not sustainable going out to sick birds in these circumstances. Also, the bird may recover if left. Not sure what can be done. Suggestions?

In reply to ItisaRobbo:

You need to direct your question to the government, because I've heard multiple times that dead and sick birds need to be reported. Including I got a letter from the local council with this request. I didn't keep the letter because I thought I'd easily find how to do it online. All I found was gov.uk saying to call RSPCA. Why do they ask me to report sick birds if they don't know what to do with them?
I thought they'd remove it from a busy spot where it could infect other birds and was also in danger of being attacked by a dog (there are many dog walkers there)

In reply to nadiac:

I am happy to blame Gov's for all sorts, but I don't think you can quote or blame the Gov for this example. I can't believe the Gov is recommending reporting a single ill bird. Obviously, the council are not the Gov and often run by different political parties. Clearly, the Gov telling people to contact a privately charity for anything is inappropriate and a bit rich. Charities aren't set up to help Gov's. Removing a dead bird is straight forward. Where would an individual sick swan be moved to, where it wouldn't then risk taking infection with it ?

In reply to ItisaRobbo:

It's not quite 'a single sick bird', it's large group of swans flying around leaving dead corpses behind (you may remember my photo of most likely the same group near Felixstowe with a dead swan in it). I don't see how it makes the situation easier to deal with. They can't do anything for one bird, but will be perfectly happy with two dozens?

Anyway, they're all gone now, including the sick one, so maybe it was more fortunate than the one they left behind in Felixstowe and did indeed recover.

In reply to nadiac:

nadiac said:

They can't do anything for one bird, but will be perfectly happy with two dozens?

The difference is one ill bird could be ill with anything. A group of two dozen in 2022/3 is most likely ill with avian flu....They would be euthanized and presumably tested. It would be unsustainable to report ill individuals. RSPCA wouldn't have resources to cope, and people by their nature, want to help in many cases, so a Gov advisory stating people should contact RSPCA for ill birds would be a green flag to reporting everything from mite infestation, damaged feet, birds not flying away etc.

Totally agree with your concern though. Very hard to know what to do, and I remember typing more should have been done earlier. e.g. watching infected seabirds return to colonies and letting them infect other birds. Even then though, we can't expect all ill birds to be caught and removed from colonies pre infecting them.

Well, I couldn't find a way to report any number of birds, it's not like it was dismissed because it was just one. And yes, I assumed it was the flu and that there was a system in place to report cases, so people more knowledgeable than I could decide what to do exactly (treat birds, track them, kill them, alert local farmers, something else or nothing). I couldn't find any traces of that system so I asked here, but apparently it just doesn't exist.

Also it seemed rather inappropriate to have a dying swan right next to a skate park full of kids.

Still not sure what to do if the resident family is infected. I guess nothing.

Don't touch any of the dead Swans as if they have Avian Flu they will be highly infectious!

Regards,

Ian.