Poison fears after deaths of baby swans at Warsop beauty spot

The death of the cygnets at The Carrs comes a year after eight cygnets died on the Mill Dam from suspected bird flu

Water bailiffs Kenjiro and Helen Evans have been monitoring the latest brood over recent months.

The bailiffs work with Friends of the Carrs, a volunteer-led community group which maintains the green space.

Kenjiro, aged 48, said: “Since Saturday, we’ve had multiple reports of the swans in distress, with twisting of the heads.

“They can’t lift their bodies out of the water. On Sunday, we actually had to rescue one.

“We took it to Park Hall Vets and they suspected poisoning. Sadly, the swan was put down.

“We believe poisoning is the cause, but are not sure what poison it is yet – we have to have autopsies done.

“We need some help with this. We are a charity and are seeking donations to get these autopsies, to find out what poison it is.

”If the poison is less severe, we may be able to carry an antidote, but the stage we are dealing with at the moment is, by the time we get here – there is no cure.

"If anyone can help, please call me on 07802 730505 – any donations will be greatly appreciated to allow us to carry out this work.”

He said there was no risk to the public, admiting they first through it may have been avian influenza.

Kenjiro said: “However, it has not affected any other animals. The adult swans have always been fine, it is only the cygnets affected.”

He urged people to ‘please report anything suspicious’.

He said: “Can people please watch out? Be careful when feeding the swans – for example, they need water to help digest food.”

Swans are a protected species belong to the Crown, meaning anyone who injures or kills one could be prosecuted.

A spokesman for Park Hall Veterinary Clinic admitted it was ‘slightly unusual’ that it was just the cygnets affected.

He said: “At the moment, we don’t know what is going on.

“We will not know officially until the post-mortem comes back in a few days.

“It was slightly unusual it was just the cygnets affected.

“We first suspected toxicity because of the symptoms, but after speaking to the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, they suspect bird flu.

“We have an outbreak of avian flu and cannot rule this out, but nothing has been confirmed yet.”

Warsop resident Peter Lee urged people to wait for the results of tests before jumping to conclusions about the cause.

He said: “I spoke with an RSPCA representative on The Carrs.

“We shouldn’t be jumping the gun on what are just rumours; this could well be avian flu.

“Hopefully a cause can be confirmed, whether it was poison or flu.”

A number of birds have died at beauty spots across the area, including King’s Mill Reservoir and Vicar Water Country Park in Clipstone, alongside a confirmed bird flu outbreak at Newstead Abbey.

Cheryl Martins, from Mansfield Wildlife Rescue, said: “It is odd that it has only affected the cygnets and none of the other birds – you would expect to see a lot more infected.”