A pub landlord used his kayak to help save a male swan from a near-fatal injury.
Sussex Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service (SVFRS) said its specialist rescue team was called to the swan, trapped in fishing wire with “a very large lure” between his beak and wing, in Langstone Harbour, Hampshire, on Saturday.
“The swan could have easily lost his life and his family of cygnets and mate lost their family member due to the carelessness of people fishing in the area,” SVFRS said.
After a night at a wildlife hospital the swan was “happily released back to his family” on Sunday.
The initial plan was to deploy the SVFRS rowing boat, but it said that would have taken too long to arrive from the rescuers’ base in Ford, West Sussex, and the swan “was in trouble and bleeding heavily”.
Adam Szczypior, landlord at The Royal Oak, then used his kayak to help.