The vet assistant rang me one morning to tell me she had something a bit out of the ordinary she would like a hand with. She thought it was a black swan, but it didn’t look quite right. A lady and her husband had found it on the side of the road, and wrapped it in a couple of beach towels. Its eyes were open, but it seemed as though no one was home. It was just lying there.
Down to the vets I went, and found said swan in a dog crate out the back, still non compos mentis. It was huge. Huge feet, huge wingspan, long neck. It was a juvenile, the feathers were a bit motley instead of black, and its bill was not as red as an adult, and the look we got from the eyes was very blank. A cursory inspection showed the head feathers were disturbed, consistent with a bonk on the head, such as being hit by a car, and a more detailed inspection (done very carefully, neither of us really wanted him to wake up till we had him in a safer place) showed nothing broken.
We were both in awe of his size and realised he was going to need to somewhere with a decent body of water. He was not going to sit in someone’s bathtub till he was with it.
So I got on the phone, and fortunately the first person I rang was actually home, and she could help. She had a large dam on her property, and swans lived there. As the crow (swan) flies she wasn’t that far from where he was found on the road.
I made arrangements to take him to her place, as soon as I found a suitable box. Of course the vet had nothing big enough, and I had nothing big enough. So I started ringing round the business houses, and one lady had a huge box that had had formal wear in it. I didn’t think anyone round here went anywhere to wear formal gear, but there you are. I drove to her shop and picked it up. She was thrilled to know it was being used to transport a swan.
It took two of us to put the swan in the box, and carry it to the car. The lid was carefully affixed, and off I went to the carer’s. Just as I was driving down the driveway to her place, I heard a noise, and looked in the rear vision mirror. There was a rather confused swan looking around. Fortunately he was making no attempt to get out.
We transferred him to the back of her ute (pick up truck) and I climbed in to keep him in the box. (I could back in those days.) The trip thankfully was only short…and bumpy. The dam was not far away, so we abandoned the box and wrapped him in towels and blankets the carer had thought to bring along. As we got closer to the water, he struggled to get free, and by the time we had reached the shore, he was really anxious to get moving! He flew the last few steps, and didn’t stop till he was out in the centre of the water.
We retraced our steps, and this time I got to sit in the front of the vehicle, in a bit more comfort.
I still have the box.
Mamaroo's Diary 