This evening I realised something was wrong when Penny was reluctant to walk across the Swans island and held her right wing at an odd angle. She eventually got into the moat and was head nodding to me over and over again as though trying to tell me something. She was holding her right leg partially out of the water and tried to stretch her right wing, it was then I spotted the mackerel trace of hooks.
One was embedded in her leg joint and another two stuck in her right wing, she was trailing a fourth and a heavy lead weight and about 15 yards of nylon line. It was vital to catch her and remove the hooks. I did not want to leave her and the rest of the family, knowing that if they got into the river she would be difficult to catch. I started feeding them and phoned the Scottish SPCA, in the hope that one of their inspectors would be in the vicinity. My luck was in, and Inspector Jamie said he would be with me in half an hour. Armed with two catching poles we both ushered Penny up the Moat to the narrowest part and I managed to get her with the hooked pole and haul her onto the island, Jamie jumped over and we started disentangling the line and removed each hook in turn. The one that was worst was embedded in her leg joint but I got it out OK. She was upset but knew we were helping her, and I gave her a head nod and spoke to her before letting her go. She was mightily relieved and rejoined Popeye and the cygnets back in the moat. Hopefully she wont get any infection from the hooks since they were fairly clean and not used for bait.
Also hope we don't get any more plonkers fishing near the harbour with the pointless use of mackerel traces !!
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