RSPCA saves swan from fishing wire in Bolton-le-Sands

Debbie Leece was walking along the canal at Bolton-le-Sands with her family when she spotted the bird in distress. 

She said: "We were just walking along and then spotted across the canal a swan in a funny place. It tried to get out of the canal and it did manage to get out with difficulty. 

The swan was in distress and was struggling to move (Image: Debbie Lecce)

"It looked over, almost as if it was saying 'help me.' It had a bright orange thing hanging off its leg attached to a fishing line."

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She said the swan went over to some reeds to hide.  She called the RSPCA and was impressed with the response time.

"I thought oh my goodness this is going to be ages," she said.

"He came within about 40 minutes from Kendal. The swan wasn't still moving. He got the swan out of the canal. It did not put up much of a fight it was exhausted." 

The fishing wire the swan was stuck on (Image: RSPCA)

Once the swan was free the first thing it did was swim back to its mate.

"I don't know where the other swan appeared from. It must have been looking out they just swan towards each other," said Debbie.

However, it was a close call, as Debbie said that the RSPCA inspector told her the swan would have starved if it had been trapped for any longer. 

An RSPCA spokesperson said: “We were called to reports of a swan entangled in a fishing line with a hook embedded in its foot. 

The swans reuniting (Image: Debbie Lecce)

“When our officer, inspector Carl Larsson, attended the scene he could see the bird was struggling to move with the line wrapped around its wing pulling it over onto its side. 

“He managed to remove the very large fishing hook and gave the bird a check-over before he released it onto the canal where it happily swam off. 

“Carelessly discarded fishing line, hooks and netting can have a terrible toll on animals, and water birds like this swan are particularly vulnerable. The majority of anglers do dispose of these items properly, but it’s frustrating that those who don’t, may not realise the danger they pose.”