Firefighters use rope to save baby swans stuck in lock in Tottenham

Rescue effort: The trapped swan
Paul Wood
Benedict Moore-Bridger13 October 2015

Two baby swans had to be freed by 16 firefighters after getting stuck in a lock on the River Lea in Tottenham.

The cygnets became wedged inside the lock gates, far left, after being chased by another bird.

Firefighters carry out the rescue of the cygnets Picture: Paul Wood
Paul Wood

The fire crews were sent to help volunteer rescuer Laurent Howes, centre, who had been alerted to the birds’ plight yesterday afternoon.

After attaching ropes to the swans’ necks, the team was able to squeeze them back through the holes.

The young swans were safely rescued Picture: Paul Wood
Paul Wood

Mr Howes, who works for the Swan Sanctuary charity in Shepperton, said the birds were recovering at his home and would be taken to the sanctuary later today.

He said: “They are a bit bedraggled but are up and on their feet and are doing fine.”

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: “The two swans were in distress … there was no way they would have got out without assistance.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT