Better luck neck's time for a majestic white swan from Warrington, UK that was reported to have been cruelly beheaded beside a roadside pond.
The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) often relies on the general public to alert it to issues, incidents and infractions involving animals. There's a downside to this, of course... some members of the public are apt to jump to conclusions when they witness something out of the ordinary. The hard-working folks at the RSPCA too often have to leap into action based on the caller's report.
Such was the case recently when a distressed woman called the local RSPCA office as she passed a roadside pond. Details were sketchy but a swan appeared to have suffered – or had been the victim of – some horrible injury.
“When the woman called us she said the bird was collapsed with the neck stretched out and that it couldn't move,” explained RSPCA inspector Claire Fisher to the Irish Examiner. “She thought the swan had been hit by a car before collapsing on some gravel beside a pond.” Inspector Fisher immediately swung into action by ascertaining the swan's location, ringing up the site manager of the Gemini Business Park, and advising him she was on her way over.
Upon their arrival at the purported crime scene, “we soon realized no veterinary treatment would be necessary as the bird was a plastic model!,” related Inspector Fisher. “We can only guess that a driver had seen the swan from the road – which was some distance – where it could have easily been mistaken for a real bird.” The site manager then performed some, er, plastic surgery on the headless model which entailed the use of some silicone and several screws. Once patched up, the repaired swan was returned to its previous place beside its mate on the shore of the pond. “We all had a laugh about this one,” Inspector Fisher summed up, “and, to be honest, we're just relieved there wasn't a swan that had suffered an awful death.”
