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IAR Malta comes to the aid of injured swan

19th February 2008

Two police officers assisting in the swan’s treatmentOn 17 February, the Administrative Law Enforcement police received a phone call from the President Palace that one of the swans in the palace gardens was bleeding. The police immediately contacted International Animal Rescue Malta for help. IAR was on location with the necessary equipment within 20 minutes.

On arrival, IAR Malta Chairman Max Farrugia found that the pool in which the swan was spotted had recently been drained for maintenance and repairs. While two other swans had been transferred to another pool, this one had been left behind. It appeared that while wandering about in the empty pool, the swan hurt its leg on either a stone or some iron work which resulted in damaged nails and an injured right foot causing significant bleeding.

“To avoid stressing the bird, which can be more dangerous to its health than the injuries, a decision was made to treat it on site. Although it lost a lot of blood, the injury itself was not life threatening. With help from the police officers, we successfully stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wound and administered the necessary medication,” said Farrugia.

Visitors to the presidential gardens later informed Max that when the swan was first noticed, calls were made to local vets, who were unfortunately unresponsive. The visitors also tried to contact other local animal welfare groups, also in vain. Finally, a decision was made to call the Administrative Law Enforcement police who then turned to International Animal Rescue Malta for help.

International Animal Rescue Malta and the Police were praised by those present for their quick intervention.