Yvonne Newman

The Black Swan - June 2010

On Saturday 8th May, my husband and I drove (three and half hours) from Maclean to Lake Cathie (just a little south of Port Macquarie) to visit his mum for Mothers Day.

We decided to go to Lauriton for lunch. As we rounded a corner in Bonny Hills we saw a dog chasing a black swan across the road. The swan was obviously distressed and could not fly.

As a WIRES rescue member, I called to my husband "I have all my rescue things in the boot, you have to stop!" He did. I jumped out of the car, ran to the back, put on my WIRES jacket, grabbed a sheet and took off in pursuit of the swan.

My husband immediately took over traffic control, his mum and my aunt began to call encouragement from the backseat, the dog took off and the swan in total confusion stopped all escape attempts and literally allowed me to cover it with the sheet.

I bundled it up and moved it to safety on the roadside. We rang WIRES only to find that FAWNA is the operating rescue organisation in that area so we were directed to them. Sandra from FAWNA rang to tell us that the Bonny Hills vet was waiting for the swan. We took to swan to the vet and that's where the story could have ended.

I rang the vet a few days later and was told that the swan, although bleeding, had no obvious wounds other than very scuffed pads on the bottom of its feet and had gone to a bird carer of FAWNA and was reportedly doing fine. I was lucky enough to contact the bird carer (June Le Pla - pictured) and was sent these photos of the birds release a few days later.

What a lovely thing! All of us working together and having the absolute satisfaction of the safe release of this beautiful creature!

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