Council donates to swan charities after repeated callouts

Two organisations which have helped injured swans in Westbury are to receive donations following repeated incidents at Vivash Park.

Westbury Town Council has agreed to donate £500 each to Bath Swan Rescue and The Swan Sanctuary, based in Shepperton, in recognition of their work responding to incidents involving swans in Westbury.

Bath Swan Rescue, a volunteer team, has attended Vivash Park 14 times since June to help swans and cygnets injured or caught in fishing line and hooks.

One adult swan, which had a barbed, weighted hook embedded in its head, was caught after four days of rescue attempts. Its injuries were too severe to treat at the lake, so it was taken to a local vet for assessment and emergency pain relief before being transferred to The Swan Sanctuary.

The sanctuary also cared for a cygnet rescued from the lake in June after it suffered serious injuries from a fishing hook that had to be surgically removed.

The £1,000 in donations was approved by Westbury Town Council’s management of services committee and will come from Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy funds provided by housing developers.

The committee also requested that QR codes be added to signs about the park’s new fishing rules, linking visitors to donation pages for both charities.

 

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