At the Waterfowl Sanctuary in Godmanchester, England, Graham Porter regularly leads rescue and rehabilitation efforts for the reserve’s swans, ducks, geese, and other waterfowl.
On October 2, Porter responded to a particularly challenging call.
“We were called by the angler who was horrified that the cygnet had become hooked and entangled,” the Waterfowl Sanctuary shared in a TikTok video caption. “He went out in waders to try and free the baby swan, but the dad would understandably attack him, so he found out about our charity, and we were on site within 30 minutes.”
Porter kayaked out to the swan family to help — and came face to face with the cygnet’s protective parents.
Swans have an average wingspan of six to 10 feet, and Porter saw that firsthand as one of the swans flew towards his kayak and flapped its wings.
“He’s protecting his baby that is hooked and wrapped with fishing line,” Porter explained in a video caption.
Still, the wildlife expert maneuvered his watercraft and scooped the baby swan out of the water into his lap. As Porter tugged at the cast line in the water, he realized how badly the cygnet had become entangled.
“The angler called me when it took his bait,” he explained. “This long line connects to his rod.”
Porter then paddled away from his cast line, both to get careful distance from the swan’s parents, and to get into a patch of sunlight so he could see the task at hand.
Then he got to work.
“A hook is in his bill,” Porter said, “which I clamp whilst I untangle the line.”
Over the next three minutes, he gently untangled the baby from the fishing line — as the swan’s father circled and hissed. Porter stayed calm throughout the experience, occasionally paddling further out to get the job done safely.
When the baby swan was finally free of the fishing line, Porter placed it back into the water. It immediately swam back over to its parents and siblings, quacking as it went.
At the time of publication, the video had garnered over 12.7 million views and 7,000 comments.
One person commented: “Thank you for doing this and checking on them!”
“If only we could tell animals when we are trying to help,” another wrote.
“Dad’s got a story of how he saved his son from the half-man half-boat baby snatcher,” one TikTok user joked.
Fortunately, this particular rescue led to a quick release. In more drastic cases, the Waterfowl Sanctuary has a rehabilitation program to help injured or orphaned swans.
“We’ve had numerous cygnets again this year — rescued and brought to us from far and wide, by ourselves or other organisations,” the charity posted to Facebook on September 15.
“All with their own story — often untold, and we have to work it out. Lost, injured, rejected — whatever it might be. They don't all make it sadly, but those that do have progressed through our hospital and convalescing pens into one of several swimming enclosures, until they reach their target size and can be released into the wild to begin their own lives.”
“Yesterday, we got to take another six to the beautiful Fen Drayton Lakes near Cambridge,” the Waterfowl Sanctuary shared. “It's a real pleasure to experience this and provides a much-needed sense of closure to the hard work. Bit by bit.”
Watch Porter's rescue in full below:
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Featured Image: Screenshots via @thewaterfowlsanctuary/TikTok
