An injured swan that had to be rescued after getting tangled up in fishing hooks and lines has this week been released back into the wild after a fortnight’s recuperation.
Burnham-On-Sea.com reported here how the bird had been retrieved at Westhay, near Shapwick, by teams from BARB and Secret World after it swallowed a fishing line and got two hooks and a float embedded in its neck and beak.
Secret World’s Graeme Thompson described the injuries at the time as “one of the worst we have ever seen.”
This week, after a fortnight’s treatment, the now-healthy bird has been released back onto the water to be reunited its family, as pictured here.
Graeme told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “After two weeks of care, the bird is now fit and healthy again. The bird still has a mark on its beak where one of the fishing hooks was embedded, but apart from that it is fine again.”
Cutters were used to remove the fishing hooks and the bird had to be put on a drip to re-hydrate it before it was anaesthetised so that an X-ray could be carried out to check for further swallowed hooks and allow a length of fishing line to be removed from it.
Our photos show the bird being released back onto the water this week by Graeme Thompson from East Huntspill’s Secret World
