Swam rescued from Middle Level Drain at St Germans

A member of the public spotted the distressed cygnet struggling to stay afloat in the Middle Level Drain at St Germans, near King's Lynn, on Tuesday afternoon.

RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer John Woods attended and located the cygnet which was in deep water with line tangled around its wing and caught in reeds.

Mr Woods called the fire service for assistance and a crew attended from King’s Lynn.

The fishing gear the swan had become entangled in (Image: RSPCA) Working together they were able to safely catch the bird from the bank by the firefighters safely supporting the RSPCA officer as he leaned across to get the bird using a swan hook. 

Once rescued Mr Woods was able to remove two hooks from the bird’s wing, and the fishing line.

The cygnet was then taken to the RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre for further treatment and to recover and further hooks were removed following x-rays. 

Mr Woods said: “I am extremely grateful to the fire service for their speedy response and for all their efforts in rescuing this bird - I would not have been able to do this without them.

The swan at East Winch Wildlife Centre after being rescued (Image: RSPCA) “They were so brilliant and I just want to say a huge thank you to all the firefighters involved in the rescue.”

Carelessly discarded fishing line, hooks and netting can have a terrible toll on animals, and water birds are particularly vulnerable. 

The RSPCA said it deals with a worrying amount of incidents every year where animals have been terribly impacted by litter and they’re the ones  known about as many incidents will go unseen or unreported. 

The charity strongly urges those who enjoy fishing to be extra cautious to make sure nothing is left behind. It only takes one piece of snagged line to get caught up in a tree or dropped near the water to endanger the life of an animal.