WATCH: Milton Keynes waterfowl charity helps rescue ‘exhausted’ swan from warehouse roof
Firefighters and Milton Keynes charity workers proved to be swan in a million when they rescued an exhausted bird from a warehouse roof.
Nothing could ruffle the feathers of firefighters who certainly came equipped when they got the call to a warehouse in Leighton Buzzard at 10.20am yesterday.
Volunteers from the Milton Keynes Swan Rescue charity, joined fire crews from Leighton Buzzard, the aerial platform team from Bedford and a specialist rescue team from Kempston, complete with a big net.
But it was swan thing at a time as they managed to secure the bird which they later released back on to a flock lake at Willen.
The swan twice managed to foil the firefighters by ducking out of reach of the net. She also tried to leave under her own steam - but ran out of energy before taking off.
Allie Humphries, a director at Milton Keynes Swan Rescue said: “The case involved a young adult swan that had landed on the roof, we believe, due to exhaustion and then did not have the energy to take off again.
“The roof itself wasn’t strong enough to support human weight so the fire service used their long reach equipment to try and get to her, but twice she evaded capture by walking away to another part of the roof.
“On the third attempt, she tried to run and take off, but had neither the length of run up available, or the strength to properly use her wings so she ended up coming down into the yard where Bob {one of our rescuers} was able to secure her.
“Once secured, she was checked over by the team and cleared for release onto one of the flock lakes.”
Milton Keynes Swan Rescue said it was ‘not your average rescue’, and that ‘there were a few moments where it could all have ended very differently’, but they were glad it had a happy ending.