FIREFIGHTERS went to the rescue today when a swan became entangled in reeds at Lymm Dam.
The crew from Stockton Heath Fire Station raced to the scene after receiving a report about the bird’s plight.
They used an inflatable raft to reach the bird, which was subsequently handed over to the RSPCA.
It is believed the bird could be suffering from lead poisoning – possibly as a result of angling at the Dam with lead weights
Fire crew rescues swan with suspected lead poisoning
88 Comments
8 Comments
here we go again its bash the anglers time !!!! lead shot was banned 20 years ago and still we get the blame for every swan poisoning GET THE FACTS RIGHT !!!! what about the shot gun owners and clay pigeon shoots in the area ? swans graze on farmland where they pick up lead from shotgun cartridges but because were an easy target it,s blame the anglers , if it was just suspected why come out with a slanderous statement like that before the true facts are known shame on you warrington world wide but there again you,re the press aren,t you !!!!!
So it’s the fault of shot gun owners & clay pigeon owners then ? Get real !
Other comments on here mention the swans from Ackers Pit getting lead poisoning too recently. We live not far from the waters and can assure you that no clay pigeon or shot gun shooting has ever gone on round here so maybe you need to come up with something else to explain why they got it.
Do the bailiffs still go round Warrington ? Do they checking what people are using or do they just check rod licences ? Perhaps it’s something in the water though, on both counts !
Interesting
http://www.rspca-bradford.org.uk/welfare/fishing-tackle.html
Not another one !! Weren’t lead weight/shot banned years ago ?
The new female from Ackers Pit was taken by the RSPCA at the beginning of June shortly after her cygnets hatched, it turned out she had lead poisoning.
That left her male partner to look after the cygnets alone.
On 20th September I went to see the male and cygnets as I often do to see how they were getting on only to find a sign up there saying the male had become unwell (no reason given) and he and the cygnets had been taken to Stapeley Grange by the RSPCA to be checked over and more details would follow. I’ve not been able to go since the 20th so I’m not sure if there are any updates or if the Ackers male and cygnets are back or indeed how the female is doing. All seems a bit odd and rather worrying for all our local swans though 🙁
Sorry Stephen, we must have been posting at the same time, I wasn’t ignoring your comments.
My dad has been fishing on all the local waters for over 50 years and like you he pointed out when the new female from Ackers became ill and was taken by the RSPCA that lead had been banned for years so doubted it was from fishermen as they all know that it’s banned.
I wouldn’t say the news article is ‘slanderous’ at all or even that they are not getting facts right though but maybe more of a case that the RSPCA/Staperly issuing the info so it is reported from source …they are after all the so called experts.
Could it be that some people are buying online more these days, especially those having only recently taken up the hobby, simply to save money and also do they sell weights/shot etc in all the pound shops and the likes too? Maybe when they buy what they ‘think’ is legal it IS actually lead.
All my family fish and I had a licence for a year too, I never caught much though other than tiddlers but I packed it in as I decided it was barbaric and must hurt the fishes lips 🙁
the male swan and the cygnets have led poisoning aswell.
the female is still recovering after having treatment for months she had a really high level,don’t think they will be back at ackers pit because they don’t send them back to places where they got ill which is a real shame
sorry in my rush I missed the a out of lead
Thanks for the update Jasper. So sad to read that the male and cygnets from Ackers have all been found to have lead poisoning too 🙁
I don’t understand how they can all have got it there though. The whole of Ackers was completely drained and years of silt removed some years back so you would think risk was less there. I find it odd how the old nesting pair never became ill from lead in the 7 years they lived and bred there too. I wonder if the environment agency/rspca have done tests on the water there rather than just on the birds, perhaps the water is somehow contaminated from another source. In fact now I think about it there was a chap in high vis stood near the inlet (top corner under Ackers Road near to the Cantilever) a year or so ago. He caught my eye and so did the inlet tunnel as all the overgrowth round there had been cut back so I could clearly see it and I had no idea it was there. I took photos of it and I asked why he was there but all he would say was that he was waiting for someone as they were coming to test the water over ‘concerns’ but didn’t seem to want to tell me anything else. It’s probably just me reading more into it that needed but the water from there goes into the small pond, which always looks stagnant, and thats where the new pair of swans built their nest and where they and their young spent a lot of time at for quite a while.