An animal rescue in Galway is helping a luckless swan and her hatchlings after she lost her second mate in two years when it was hit by a bus near the city’s iconic Spanish Arch.
The male swan was chasing another bird from his territory when he flew into a moving bus two weeks ago. He was picked by the city’s fire service but died from his injuries shortly afterwards.
The unfortunate incident left his mate alone with seven eggs in their nest near Nun’s Island, around 200 metres from the Spanish Arch. And it’s the second time in two years that the same swan has lost her companion in tragic circumstances.
This time last year, her previous mate died after flying into power lines close to the same location, again leaving her to raise her brood of cygnets on her own.
The last of her seven eggs hatched on Sunday and a local swan rescue organisation is now helping her to raise her young.
“These ones will be at a total disadvantage without their dad, and they’ll be in serious trouble. So, that’s why we’re going to keep an eye on them,” said Mike Smith, a volunteer with Galway and Claddagh Swan Rescue.
“In the absence of a mate, we’ve been giving her some food, making sure that she doesn’t have to spend too long off the nest. But it’s going to be touch-and-go now that the cygnets are hatched.
“If they come off the nest and go left, they are heading towards a kind of waterfall, which falls down onto the actual River Corrib and goes out into the ocean. So, if they go that side, we’re in trouble,” he added.
Mr Smith was the volunteer on duty on the Sunday morning that the male swan was killed by the bus in the city centre.
“That dad was particularly territorial,” he recalled. “He was obviously chasing a competitor away from his area at the time. He was vicious enough with other swans in the area, and he’d go anywhere to chase them.
“He obviously wasn’t watching what he was doing and he hit the bus. The driver was distraught – he thought it was his fault but it wasn’t really. Swans are very cumbersome in the air and it takes forever for them to turn.”
Mr Smith, who is a paramedic, said it was this time last year when the female swan lost her previous mate when he collided with overhead power lines.
“She has no luck whatsoever,” he said. “You’d feel sorry for her.”
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