'Water-foul' - Swan rescued from sewage works

A swan rescued from a sewage treatment works will be spending Christmas in an wildlife hospital as he is not healthy enough to be released into the wild.

The unfortunate animal spent four days in an overflow tank at the facility in Stoke Albany, Northamptonshire.

Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital, which rescued him last week, said the water level was initially too low for the swan to be able to get out and it then became waterlogged.

Animal care leader at the hospital, Harriet Childs, said the male swan had "not got any oomph in him".

Staff at the sewage works alerted the hospital about the swan which had been struggling to get out of the water.

Ms Childs and a volunteer went to the site to assess it and attempt a rescue.

She said: "He was quite weak and quite waterlogged [meaning] he was quite heavy.

"He was shivering and cold all the water was sitting in his feathers."

The rescuers were able to take the sad swan to their rescue centre in Kibworth, Leicestershire.

Ms Childs added: "He's fine now. He's good - he's still lost his waterproofing, so he's having to have multiple baths to get his waterproofing back."

She explained how the swan had to be waterproof again because he could be released.

"We don't know where he is from so we will try to put him in a communal area, such as Rutland or Pitsford," she said.

She added the return to the wild would no be until after Christmas, but hoped by January he will be back to full health.

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