Kirsten
01-11-2009, 11:52 AM
Today, I went downtown to take some pics. The rivers here are frozen which doesn't happen too often so I thought I could make some interesting winter photos (posted them here (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?p=2110814#post2110814)). But while I was taking the pics, a woman approaced and showed me a swan that was frozen on the ice. She said a while ago, some teenagers threw stones at him to make him stand up and walk, but he didn't. Well, obviously he couldn't.
There he sat, with his belly flat on the ice, montionless and sad. It looked like he has already given in to this fate. :( I promised the woman I would do something about it, even though I had no idea who to contact in such a case. As far as I know, we don't have a local animal rescue group here. (Some years ago, I called the fire brigade when a cat sat in a tree and couldn't come down, and they said I would have to pay for the rescue mission, at least $400, which I couldn't of course. :( So I thought the fire fighters would be no option for the swan.
Decided to call my mother from my cell phone. She knows a guy who works for a nature protection group that also includes the wild life so I thought it would be an option to call him. While I was waiting for her to call me back, I approached the swan and talked to him, trying to make him get up, but he didn't. To my surprise, a couple of minutes later the fire fighters came. Obviously somebody else had called them already. They had a crane on their truck which helped them to get near the swan. When they came closer, he was so afraid that he finally managed to get out of the ice! He swam away, and I hope he's not too weak from cold and hunger. And I hope he won't sleep on the ice again!
The poor swan with his belly frozen on the ice
http://www.catmom.de/pix/winter25.jpg
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue1.jpg
Help is coming
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue2.jpg
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue3.jpg
Here, he just got up
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue4.jpg
Free!
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue5.jpg
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue6.jpg
Kirsten
There he sat, with his belly flat on the ice, montionless and sad. It looked like he has already given in to this fate. :( I promised the woman I would do something about it, even though I had no idea who to contact in such a case. As far as I know, we don't have a local animal rescue group here. (Some years ago, I called the fire brigade when a cat sat in a tree and couldn't come down, and they said I would have to pay for the rescue mission, at least $400, which I couldn't of course. :( So I thought the fire fighters would be no option for the swan.
Decided to call my mother from my cell phone. She knows a guy who works for a nature protection group that also includes the wild life so I thought it would be an option to call him. While I was waiting for her to call me back, I approached the swan and talked to him, trying to make him get up, but he didn't. To my surprise, a couple of minutes later the fire fighters came. Obviously somebody else had called them already. They had a crane on their truck which helped them to get near the swan. When they came closer, he was so afraid that he finally managed to get out of the ice! He swam away, and I hope he's not too weak from cold and hunger. And I hope he won't sleep on the ice again!
The poor swan with his belly frozen on the ice
http://www.catmom.de/pix/winter25.jpg
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue1.jpg
Help is coming
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue2.jpg
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue3.jpg
Here, he just got up
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue4.jpg
Free!
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue5.jpg
http://www.catmom.de/pix/rescue6.jpg
Kirsten