Baby Swans Stranded on Road Rescued and Carried to Safety

welfare grounds — a post-mortem revealed an old, unhealed leg fracture— while the other 7 were later returned to the wild

A group of baby swans found stranded on a road is safe thanks to a wildlife charity and a surprisingly handy assist from IKEA.

Eight cygnets were rescued after a member of the public discovered them on a road in Somerset, England, and contacted Secret World Wildlife Rescue, according to The Independent. With help from police, responders first secured the birds in a temporary pen, but then faced an immediate problem: there was no sign of the cygnets’ parents anywhere.

That left the charity with a difficult, unusual call. Secret World doesn’t routinely take in waterbirds. Still, it deemed this an “exceptional situation” after other suitable rescues were unable to admit the bird group, leaving eight healthy young cygnets with nowhere appropriate to go. Rescuers believed the birds had once been part of a family of 10.

According to the report, Secret World typically avoids waterbird rescue because of the risk of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, spreading through its center and affecting the rest of the wildlife hospital.

“Because of the exceptional circumstances, our team reviewed the situation carefully,” the charity said, adding that extra protocols and risk assessments were put in place. The cygnets were kept separate from the rest of the hospital, “with measures in place to minimize any potential risk to the wider operation.”

Once the birds arrived at the center in East Huntspill, they were released into waterfowl accommodation for monitoring. One cygnet was weaker than its siblings and did not improve despite intensive care. The rescue team decided to euthanize the bird on welfare grounds.

Read the original article on People