Swan song avoided thanks to Community Support Officers

Our Community Support Officers, or CSOs, are key frontline workers within our teams. While their days are typically varied, they usually respond to callouts for cats, dogs, and other domestic companion animals in need of help.

So Zoe, one of our Auckland CSOs, knew she was in for an unusual day when she received a call about a swan with fishing line wrapped around his neck.

She and her team headed to a local park, where a black swan was struggling to free itself from a stray fishing line and hook. A concerned member of the public was already trying to help, but the line had become wrapped around his long neck, and the hook was embedded in the top of his wing. And they were quickly learning how difficult it is to catch a swan in distress on your own!

Zoe and her team jumped into action, helping to catch him and quickly removing the fishing line – but saw that the hook was stuck too far into his wing to be easily pulled out. Though the swan was a bit bigger than the average kitten or puppy, they realised he was just small enough to fit into a carrier they had in the back of their van. So, in the – admittedly quite confused – swan went!

They took him to the nearby Saint Heliers Vet Clinic, where a former SPCA veterinarian worked. Though we’re sure she hadn’t been expecting to see her old coworkers again in that context, she removed the hook, giving the swan its full range of motion back.

Zoe and her team brought the swan back to his pond – where, to their delight, they found his wife and babies waiting for him! They watched the heartwarming reunion unfold, and helped to celebrate the occasion by treating the family, and their friends, to some much-deserved bird feed.

While this story may have ended in a happy family being reunited, the same can't be said for every animal who encounters stray fishing gear. Every year, inappropriately discarded fishing line, hooks and tackle kills or injures wildlife and companion animals and harms our natural environment. Whether or not you use this kind of gear yourself, we urge you to be mindful of the issue; safely pick up and remove stray gear if you see it, and be sure to dispose of your own properly. And if you happen upon any animals in a similar situation, reach out to your closest SPCA Centre for help – or DoC, if it’s a native animal.