IT’S TIME FOR A SWAN BREAK...
TWO Alexandra Park cygnets have swanned off to a new home over concerns about their parents’ aggressive behaviour towards them.
Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Centre was called in over the weekend after worried residents raised the alarm that two young swans were being regularly attacked by their parents in the Dennistoun park.
One of the animals was rehomed at Hogganfield Loch over the weekend but the other will require a short stay in Hessilhead’s small hospital due to injuries and trauma it received.
The Glasgow Times understands that there have been reports of the adult swans holding their heads under the water in order to drown them. They have also been chased from the water and attacked.
According to the charity, this is natural behaviour from swans when they are ready to breed again and cygnets usually get the message and fly the nest. In rare cases such as this, some intervention is required.
Kirsty Murdoch, a volunteer courier with Hessilhead, was on the scene to rescue one of the swans on Saturday and praised the response from the community.
She said: “The local people were fantastic. The council’s park department was terrific – they waited with the swan until well past their stopping time. There were four people who waited with the cygnet until we got there and formed a wall to stop it going towards the water.”
“It’s all come from the community which I find quite a lot when I go out to look at swans. People around are very protective of them and in this case, that was particularly so. They’re very protective of them because they have watched the cygnets grow up.”
Ann Jenkins, secretary of Friends of Alexandra Park said: “People were distressed as the parents were not letting the young ones back in the water.
“It was so sad because they are really protective of the young ones. It was lovely to see the swan being released. It was good to see the community coming together.”