Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital

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News for October 21st-28th 2007

Our work is never finished here at the Hospital. Here are just a few stories of the casualties brought to our care and attention this week.

At this time of year, a large percentage of calls are for young swans landing on roads. We begun the week called to a young swan on the road by the Humberside Police at Kilberdyke. She had received some cuts to here feet, but otherwise okay. This was soon followed by another call by a member of the Public near Derby. This swan had wondered off a small pond and was clipped by a passing car. Unfortuently the swan had died before our arrival.

A swan in Liverpool was found suffering from terrible lead poisoning. At this time of year, swans which have lead in their systems often display signs of the illness when the weather turns cold. Another swan found in this condition was discovered by our volunteers Julie and Faith. This swan had been into our care earlier in the year from Fairburn Ings near Castleford suffering from lead poisoning. She had not been seen much on the Ings throughout the Summer months, so we guessed that she had spent most of her time on the River Aire, which is where she is likely to have picked up some lead. Another swan from Carol and Linda from the North East was also brought in with lead poisoning after clipping cables. These swans will stay in our care and have daily expensive treatments until they are well enough to return back to the wild.

The actions of some careless people has resulted in several fishing related injuries. We were contacted by York Rowing Club, who had spotted a female swan with cygnets on the River Ouse with a large fishing hook through her beak. The swan was found and the hook removed, and we were able to return her back to her waiting cygnets. More problems at Newark Lock when another cygnet was found wrapped in fishing line. Again, we were able to release the swan after her ordeal.

We were contacted by a very concerned member of the public near Leicester. A whole family of nine swans were forced off their pond after it had been drained and had begun taking residence in locals' gardens. The swans had no access to food or water, and local children had begun to take negative interest in them. Thanks to our networking with local volunteers, we were able to organise to movement of the swans to another pond where they would remain safe.

We were contacted by the RSPCA for a swan on the River Foss in York, which was tangled in some black rope. We were able to locate the swan quickly and removed the rope, allowing us to return it straight back into the wild and it's waiting mate. Another call for help was received from the RSPCA for a swan which was taken to Goole Police Station. Fortuently the situation with the swan had been resolved before we had to take any further action.

A very sad emergency call came through this week for a cygnet which had crash landed on the M62 and Junction 37. To make matters worse, the cygnet was hit by a lorry and ripped half of it's wing off. We were called to the scene by the Environment Agency who required our immediate help, and managed to locate the bird and part of it's missing wing. The cygnet will be seen by our vet as soon as possible, and is on very strong painkillers and antibiotics. Another sad story hit the local news this week when two swans were found shot in Doncaster. The RSPCA are now investigating this incident, having removed the body's.

A male swan came into care from Jenny Beecher at Pugneys Wildlife Rescue in Wakefield. He had been living on a small dyke for the past five years, and recently all the water had been drained. The swan was also suffering from swellings in both legs, so had to be brought in for treatment. We'll let you know his progress.

At the time of writing, we are waiting for a swan to arrive from Allerton Bywater near Castleford, with a fishing hook in his neck. Sounds like a busy day at the vets tomorrow for us!

Thank you for your continued support.

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

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