Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital

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News for May to August 2007

An ever increasing amount of swans have been brought to our attention so far in 2007; 1,197 swans to be exact. Our thanks to everybody who have alerted us to these injured birds, and to those who have made donations in order for us to continue our valuable work.

So far this year we have cared for over 100 young swans, all comming into our care suffering from injuries or abandoned and left behind by their parents. We are pleased to say that we have released more than half of this number already back into the wild, and the other cygnets are slowly growing to their released weights and sizes. Cygnets are particularly hard to raise, and as in all cases with wild animals, they are better off with their parents than being reared by humans. But one particular pair of swans took us by suprise who had come in from Straws Bridge in Derbyshire. They had been bricked by youths, resulting in the male with serious injuries including a broken wing and the female with an injury to her leg. They also had two, week old cygnets, which thankfully were uninjured and all were transported to the Hospital and the pair treated by our vet Johanna. As they slowly began their road to recovery, they also began 'adopting' other cygnets which came into care here; by the time they had finished they had taken eight cygnets under their wings! The whole family have now been successfully released.

Cygnets have come far and wide. We took in three young cygnets from the same family in Durham within a week after all were found suffering with fishing line. These were successfully operated on to remove the hooks from their necks. The RSPCA alerted us to a cygnet at Bransholme in East Yorkshire suffering from horrendous fishing line trailing from his beak, around his wings and cutting off the circulation to his legs. He has since made a full recovery and is now back in the wild. Two day old cygnets were brought to us by the RSPCA from Castleford, found completely without parents. And the RSPCA in Doncaster brought us a cygnet from Cusworth Hall with a massive sea fishing hook in his thigh and unable to stand; quite how a sea fishing hook arrived at Cusworth Hall is beyond any of us as fishing is banned on this site! Four tiny cygnets were collected from a vets in Chester-le-Street after their parents were shot dead, a further three arrived from Flaxby Golf Course, near Knaresborough, and another with walking difficulties from Lightwater Valley in Ripon. One lucky cygnet was found on the A19 walking down the road, no older and two weeks old. On his arrival we found fishing line hooked under his bottom beak and down his neck which was quickly removed.

As always, not a moment passes without a horror story. We received a call from the signal box at Newark Castle train station. Two very tiny cygnets were found on the level crossing. On our arrival, the conductor played us back CCTV images of to young men actually placing the cygnets on the line, prosumably so they could watch them get hit by a train. Fortuently the cygnets were retrieved before this happened and placed into the safety of a toilet before our arrival! This incident was of course reported to the Police, and the cygnets have since been released. A very unfortunate swan was found with the most horrendous infestation of leeches in his eyes. So infested, that his eyes were missing and he was in a great amount of discomfort and pain. He was finally relieved when he was put to sleep - so sad.

Two black swan cygnets came into care from Sandall Park in Doncaster with terrible lead poisoning. After weeks of treatment and even tube feeding, they have pulled through well and are now ready to be relocated to a new home. A few day old black cygnet also came into care from York University unable to walk. We have reared him here and he is now ready for release too. A Whooper swan arrived from Whitley Locks near Selby, with severe lead poisoning. Thanks to the rings on his legs, we were able to track his astonishing journey from the day he was rung at Martin Mere in Lancashire a few years ago. He has now successfully been returned to the wild and we have sighted him since his departure from the hospital.

As well as the swans, we have cared for a number of other animals this year. These include large numbers of ducklings and baby birds all of which have been returned to the wild. We attended an injured badger near Knaresborugh, which sadly had to be put to sleep. We also attended a call for an injured deer in Ripon, and have cared for a number of crows, pigeons and ducks. A kestrel which came in stunned by a car was released within a few days after a good feed.

As in 2006, we co-ordinated the rescue of the hedgehogs from the Islands of Uist once again throughout April and May, saving nearly 300 hedgehogs. This year was different, as the government agencies previously killing the hedgehogs were now handing them over to the rescue efforts in order for them to be relocated to the mainland, which is a huge victory. It was a strain running both the hedgehog centre on the Uists and the swan hospital here, but we managed well. Thank you to all of our volunteers during this busy time!

One very unfortunate swan from Fairburn Ings was unfortunate to lose it's wing in a flying accident due to a power line. The power line had sheared his wing completely off and he was pouring with blood. We managed to rescue him in the dark at 8pm thankfully, and he was taken to Johanna for an operation. Another lovely female swan from Barnsley was rescued with us and the RSPCA with a very badly damaged wing. She has now been released onto a lake with a male swan in Beadale and have instantly paired up. And another swan from the Aire and Calder Canal in Stanley near Wakefield had a large amount of bone sticking out of the end of her wing. This was successfully operated on and she has made a full recovery. The same for a male swan found in Huddersfield which was brought into our care at the beginning on the year having been shot in the neck. This time round he received a broken wing after flying into a railway bridge over the canal. He too is now ready for release.

A poor female swan from Whitby was admitted into care a few weeks ago. Suffering from severe lead poisoing, unable to walk, stand or even eat, we kept her alive by tube feeding her numerous times per day, injecting saline fluids and countless numbers of injections. She can now walk and eat, but she has been severely effected by the poisoing, which has damaged her nervous system. She will be here with us for sometime yet, so we keep our fingers crossed for her.

A large scale oiling incident happened at Killingworth Lake near Newcastle. A local had poured gallons of unwanted vegetable oil into the water, covering many of the 60 swans that live there. Along with the RSPCA and the Berwick Swan and WIldlife Trust, we removed a large number of oiled birds which was equally split between the two centres. All of the birds involved in the oil were washed (taking many hours of our time) and then released. A family of eight swans were also rescued by us and an RSPCA Inspector from a baking factory in Leeds. A large liquid container lorry bust it's pipes when offloading a large amount of fat, which leaked into the water and saturated the swans. They are still in our care and have required a number of washes to restore their waterproofing. We reamin hopeful that they will all pull through and will be released back to their homeland.

Further coverage in local media has led to a rise in calls. Articles appeared in the Yorkshire Post, the Gazzette and Herald, the Northern Echo, the York Evening Press and the Selby Times to name but a few. Thank you to these papers and their reporters for their time in highlighting the problems our swans are facing.

Our thanks once more must be lent to everybody who have helped us, especially our volunteers, whom we couldn't continue to operate without.

Dan & Joe, Co-Founders

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