Two swans found injured by fishing hooks in Weymouth

Weymouth Swan Warden Derek Davey has reported two cases of swans being injured by fishing hooks in their necks at Radipole Lake in the last two weeks.

One of the distressed birds required an urgent operation to remove the hook while the other had its hook taken out by Mr Davey.

The hook removed from one of the birds was found to be an illegal barbed fishing hook.

Angling society bailiffs said they found a man found fishing illegally on the lake who admitted hooking a swan and was 'offered advice and guidance'.

The lake is shared by the RSPB and Radipole Lake Angling Society, which each control different sections of the body of water.

On Sunday, October 8, Mr Davey was called out to the lake to attend to a swan in distress with a fishing line hanging from its beak.

The injury sustained to the neck of the first swan (Image: Derek Davey)

Mr Davey said: “On inspection, it became evident that a barless (legal) fishing hook was attached to the line further down his throat.

“Due to the severity it was not possible for me to remove without causing further damage, so I took the swan to a local vet who advised that an operation was required urgently but not within their speciality.

“I contacted fellow charity, Wildlife in Need in Bournemouth, who have used vets treating swans previously and managed to operate the following day which required neck incision to remove the hook with stitches and after care for ten days including antibiotics as well.

“The swan recovered due to excellent care and has been released back on the lake.”

In a separate incident on Friday, October 13, Mr Davey was called by the RSPB centre to rescue a second swan in severe distress affected with a hook and lure in its neck.

This time the hook was an illegal barbed fishing hook – which is banned on Radipole Lake.

The barbed hook found in the swan's neck (Image: Derek Davey)

Mr Davey said: “The hook needed invasive removal causing further distress to the swan.

“Fortunately, I managed to treat the swan in situ and it was released back onto the lake.

“This first year swan is a lake resident and has not flown in from elsewhere, which means the fishing line and hook was due to illegal fishing at Radipole Lake.”

Mr Davey passed on the information to the Radipole Lake Angling Society, who investigated the reports of illegal fishing on the lake.

Eddie Waring, secretary at Radipole Lake Angling Society said: “We are a responsible angling society.

“Once we found out about the incident, we sent our bailiffs to search for the tackle used for barbed fishing

“The swan had a barbed lore in its neck which is not allowed on the lake.

“The bailiffs challenged a young individual who was fishing on the lake and he admitted he had hooked a swan the day before, the young lad was quite open about what he had done.

“The young man was fishing illegally, and he was offered advice and guidance by the bailiffs.

“He was fully compliant with the bailiffs and removed himself from the fishery.

“We have sent information to all our anglers of ways to deal with wildlife in distress and what procedures to follow.

“As an angling society we have done as much as we can to prevent this happening again, including posting numbers for the RSPB, Derek and other wildlife experts on our webpage.

“We are taking positive steps to make sure we are in a position to help any wildlife in distress.

“We will continue to do anything to meet the needs of the RSPB and conservationists.”