FISHERMEN at the Basins in Wellington are being urged to take more care after a cygnet ingested fishing line and ended up with a float trailing from its beak.

The RSPCA was called last Wednesday and an officer took the young swan – under protest from the bird’s parents – to its centre at West Hatch for treatment.

Mea Morgan, ten, of Sylvan Road, Wellington, said she had spotted the cygnet in distress at lunchtime and asked her grandmother, Ann Morgan, of Parklands Road in the town, to phone the RSPCA. Mea thought other people may have called for assistance as well.

The WWN reported in its July 20 edition that Katherine Legg and her daughter Cara had found a duck bleeding heavily at the Basins after a fishing line and hook had entangled itself around its tongue and wings.

The bird was taken to the Mount Veterinary Hospital in High Street, Wellington, where it received treatment and was later returned to the Basins.