These are the horrific injuries suffered by a swan after it swallowed a fishing line and got two hooks embedded – in its BEAK and NECK.
The distressed bird was spotted by a walker flapping in agony on a tributary near Westhay, Somerset on Monday afternoon.
Lifeguards form Burnham-On-Sea Area Rescue Boat (BARB) managed to rescue the stricken swan on an inshore lifeboat which was ”hours from death”.
The male adult swan had the two-inch hooks of a pike lure snagged in its beak and neck – making it impossible for it to swallow food or water.
BARB chairman Mark Newman said: ”It was estimated the swan had been like that for three or four days.
”The bird was starving and literally hours from death.”
The bird was taken to Quantock Vets where it was sedated and metal cutters were used to remove the hooks.
Graeme Thompson, from Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Somerset which also helped in the rescue, added: ”This was one of the worst injured birds I have seen for a long time.
”We also found it had swallowed a length of line, so the bird was 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 the line to be removed from its throat.
”This incident serves as a reminder to anglers to think twice when discarding unused fishing line – it can have terrible consequences for animals.”
The swan is expected to make a full recovery and will be sent into the wild next week.
