Kindness is putting swans in jeopardy

From the archive, first published Monday 10th Jan 2005.

Wildlife experts are pleading with animal lovers to stop feeding swans at a boating lake.

Concerns are growing for the safety of the 30 birds at Hove Lagoon.

Their popularity has led to more people feeding them.

But what seems like kindness could be putting the swans in danger. Some have been injured swimming among dumped shopping trolleys, broken bottles and rusting cans.

Brighton and Hove City Council is about to drain the 3ft-deep pool and clear the rubbish. Officers have been warned the swans could stay at the pool because they are being fed. They could then become stranded and risk injury and disease.

A council spokesman said: "Swans instinctively fly off when water levels drop.

"However, feeding by residents could tempt them to stay, potentially leaving them stranded without water.

"This would mean the swans would have to be captured and moved - a stressful experience for the birds."

Trevor Weeks, rescue co-ordinator of East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS), said: "These birds should really be living in a more natural habitat but their numbers have grown because of artificial feeding by residents.

"If feeding continues they would stay indefinitely but if it stops they should quickly realise and move on."

His colleague Maz Smith said: "I have seen a swan badly cut in the lagoon, probably by debris, so the situation cannot be left as it is."

Council resort services manager Chris Holm said visitors would not be able to use the lagoon for activities such as windsurfing unless the rubbish was cleared.

He said: "It is vital for safety reasons that the pool is drained."

WRAS volunteers are working with the Egham-based National Swan Sanctuary, which is overseeing the project.

Animal welfare officers have seen the number of injured swans in East Sussex rise from 46 in 2002 to more than 95 in 2004. Many incidents involved birds crash-landing in the Lottbridge Drove area of Eastbourne.

WRAS helpers have also helped swans shot by children with air guns.

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