Canal swan is shot nine times
Thugs shot a swan nine times at a Black Country canal – prompting a decision to ban the birds' release into the area's waterways.
Bosses at the RSPCA say they will no longer return swans to the Wyrley and Essington Canal, which runs through Staffordshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton, after the latest spate of gun attacks.
One bird discovered last month after it flew in the garden of a home in Inkerman Grove, Wolverhampton, will be released back into the wild elsewhere in the West Midlands after it was targeted by yobs in Willenhall.
Two swans were killed in nearby Wednesfield and another badly injured in Wilklenhall over the weekend. The dead birds were recovered from the Wyrley and Essington canal on Sunday.
RSPCA spokeswoman Judith Haw said that following the attacks, officers had now deemed the stretch of waterway too dangerous a location for swans.
"It's clearly not a safe place for them and the swan that was shot nine times will not be going back," she said.
"X-rays revealed the poor swan had been used as target practice for someone brandishing an air gun.
"She had four pellets in her neck with the rest in her abdomen. She also had abnormally high levels of lead in her blood which required urgent veterinary treatment.
"Fortunately she survived and has been nursed back to health, but just last weekend we had two more dead birds reported to us in the same canal.
"It is just unbelievable that anyone would want to do this to these birds."
Nature lovers have long enjoyed the sight of swans in the Wyrley and Essington Canal, which runs nearattractions including, Chasewater Leisure Park, Pelsall Common and Walsall and Wolverhampton centres.
Dr Andrew Kelly, manager of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre, in Nantwich, where the injured swan shot nine times was treated, said the shootings were worryingly common.
"In 2008, we treated over 70 birds for pellet injuries."
