Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital

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News for October 2007

The last week has proved to be yet another busy week here at the Hospital, with nearly 30 new in-patients brought into our care.

At this time of year, young swans are starting to take their first flight, and land in the most strange places. The place chosen to 'crash land' often is in the gardens of surprised members of the public, or very busy public roads. We collected one young swan from Worksop very late one evening. Fortunately the members of the public secured the swan in a dog cage and contacted us straight away.

Another call for a swan needing our help came from an RSPCA Inspector. The swan needed collecting from Kingston Veterinary Group in Hull, having flown into power cables on her first flight. She had received some treatment at the vets, but needed to recover for a few days here at the Hospital. She is progressing well, and the wound on her wing has nearly healed.

An early morning call from the North Yorkshire Police Headquarters was received for a pair of swans on the A1 motorway near Thirsk. Police Officers were at the scene when we arrived, and the swans were running around the motorway carriages, obviously a potentially serious hazard to motorists. The traffic was stopped in both directions to allow us to capture the birds. As they were carrying rings on their legs, we were able to confirm the swans were a breeding pair from a fishing lake in Rainton. We thanked the Police for their valuable support, and returned them to their original home. On arrival to the lake, we found one of the pair's young cygnets unable to walk correctly. We suspect he has hit something on his first flight, and subsequent blood tests have confirmed lead poisoning. He is now receiving treatment here at the Hospital, and is making a good, but slow, recovery. As reported in last weeks news, his brood mate was recently brought into the Hospital a few weeks ago suffering from several fishing hooks in his neck and a huge swelling on his neck. He is doing very well and will soon be ready for release.

An RSPCA Inspector brought us two young swans from their Bradford Animal Home. They had been caught in the same stretch of fishing line on a lake in Horbury, and had nearly died. Subsequently, they were not waterproof, and the RSPCA felt they should come in to our care to ensure they were fully waterproof before their release. One of the swans was desperately unwell, unable to stand, and very thin. We are now very pleased with their progress.

On a lighter note, we were successful in releasing ten swans back into the wild this week. Some of these birds had been with us for a long time, us having brought them back to life and down the road of recovery. They now carrying rings on their legs, so we can monitor their progress after their release. At the time of writing, we have 51 swans in our care.

Linda and Carol – our volunteers in the North East – have been very busy over the last week. They were called to a swan which has hit cables, and suffering from trauma, constantly shaking and unable to eat. Power lines are often the cause of so many injuries this time of year due to fog and mist, rendering the cables invisible to flying birds. He is making a good recovery. Linda was also called out to another swan at Killingworth Lake after becoming trapped in netting on the floating island. He was brought in to care for a few days to ensure he was okay. Another swan was found with a break on his leg, which has now been operated on; we'll see how he recovers. While we were collecting these birds to bring down the to Hospital, an emergency call was received for a badly injured cygnet on the River Tyne in Newcastle. The swan had a broken wing and a dislocated leg. Johanna has operated on this bird and we hope he'll pull through; we'll let you know how he goes. While rescuing this cygnet, we came across a pair of swans on a small pond next to the River Tyne. On closer inspection, the male swan had a small barbed fishing hook through his top beak, which we were able to remove on site and release him back to his waiting mate.

Our volunteers Julie and Faith found two suffering swans over the past week. One was from Fairburn Ings, a last years youngster, who had been here at the Hospital from the North East after he was shot in the eye. This time round, he was found with a terrible injury caused by fishing line under his beak, which we call 'chinstrap'. He had been unable to eat for sometime, as there was a huge amount of vegetation and food on the line and he was very thin. Another swan they found at Allerton Bywater near Castleford was suffering with a very large fishing hook. The hook had gone into this rather aggressive swans neck from the outside, and into it's windpipe. Our vet Johanna spent over an hour operating on this bird, and she pulled through great.

We were contacted by the Lock Keeper at Newark, for a swan badly entangled in fishing line on the River Trent. To add to this poor birds worries, a resident pair of swans started attacking her as she lay stranded in the water. We were able to attend and free her from the fishing line. She received some terrible cuts from the line on her legs, so she has been kept for a few days to be monitored. We have seen swans in this condition before die of stress and trauma, so we always bring the birds in to care as a precaution.

Another swan from the RSPCA came into the Hospital from Knaresborough, having landed in a member of the public's back garden. We also received a call from the North Yorkshire Police about this swan. Another swan with an injured wing came into care in need of some treatment, and was rescued by Keira, an RSPCA Animal Collection Officer. We responded to another call from the RSPCA for a swan with a suspected injured wing in York. Fortunately there was nothing wrong with this bird. The caller was concerned that the swan had lost it's wing feathers; this is perfectly natural around this time of year, as swans shed their old wing feathers and replace them with new ones for the next year.

Another early morning call was received for a swan on Lendal Bridge in York. He was lucky enough to have no injuries, and was released back on the River Ouse with the other swans. And a swan from Brough, near Hull, was found by a caring member of the public on a road, after hitting power cables; the swan didn't last the journey home. The next day we were called to Brough once again for a swan in a territorial battle with another pair of swans, and was brought back to the safety of the Hospital for treatment.

The RSPCA Animal Home in Bawtry, South Yorkshire was taken a young swan, again having hit cables in Doncaster. The staff decided that the swan needed further care at our Hospital, and we went to pick him up. The swan is very aggressive, and unsurprisingly so after his terrible ordeal. One of his wings is slightly damaged as he hangs it quite low, but we expect him to recover from his injuries. He has been blood tested to see what kind of lead level he has. We remain hopeful. Another young swan near Doncaster (will it ever end?!) was found outside the home of a local Vet, who secured the animal in a stable before we were contacted to collect her. This bird has a back and leg injury, and is unable to stand after landing hard on a road. Some rehabilitation, time on our ponds and some treatment will hopefully repair her as soon as possible for her release back into the wild.

A lovely barn owl came into the Hospital from Yearsley. A couple had found him on the road, clearly injured. Unfortunately the bird had a terrible break to his right wing, and was extremely thin and weak. Clearly the wing had been broken for sometime, so it was decided that the bird should be put to sleep to end it's suffering. Such a terrible shame. A cockerel on 'death row' has also been brought in to accompany our hens; he was an unwanted pet and was to be killed if we didn't take him in. We also attended to a poor badger which was hit by a vehicle near to us at Strensall, which was sadly dead on our arrival. A dazed robin came into our care for a few days, and has now been released.

Our final words must go to the generosity of our supporters. Just two of the donations received through the post over the last week were of £1000, and another of £500, after seeing our work on the ITV programme The Dales Diary. The supporters wish to remain anonymous – our sincere thanks for your help. If you wish to consider making a donation to the charity, please ensure you complete a Gift Aid form if you are a UK Taxpayer. This ensures the charity benefits as much as possible from your donation; it really makes a difference and at no extra cost to you. A special thank you to everybody who has contacted us about these injured swans.

Until next week... Dan, Joe and The Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital team.

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