Meet Ziggy the Lonely Cygnet (Baby Swan)
(Click on the photo and continue clicking to follow his story.)
In mid September 2010, we received a call regarding a cygnet (baby swan) at Coburg Lakes just sitting against a concrete bridge wall, all alone - with no parent birds around. Two of our rescuers (Leanne & Terry) went out to assess the situation and upon arrival could not find the cygnet but did come across a group of 5 people throwing rocks at the poor ducks on the lakes. They politely asked the people to stop throwing rocks at our wildlife and were confronted by abuse. After trying to defuse the situation - with no luck, of course - they were warned that if they persisted, the police would be called and that they could be charged.
The people eventually left the area and the search for the cygnet was on in earnest. After searching for hours and not being able to find it and darkness moving in, it was decided that they would go back the next morning and try again. On returning the next morning the cygnet was found quite easily in an area below the waterfall, it must have been hiding the night before. The two rescuers captured it but could not see the parents anywhere around to reunite them. It was taken to a carer (Heidi) close by in the hope that over the next few days we could locate the parents and reunite the family.
That night while settling the cygnet in Heidi noticed that the cygnet - now named Ziggy - was not walking. It would only walk if there was support under the body holding most of the weight. Knowing that we have had calls out to Coburg Lakes before for cygnets falling over the waterfall and getting fractures, it was time for x-rays.
Ziggy was taken to the Melbourne Zoo the next day and x-rayed; thankfully there were no fractures and it was assumed that Ziggy had probably fallen over the waterfall and had bad bruising, so rest was prescribed for this little sweetheart. Over the next few days Ziggy was slowly showing signs of improvement. It has now been 2 months since Ziggy came into care and as you can see by the photos has grown quite big.
We have still been trying to locate the parents the whole time Ziggy has been in care but with no luck, we can only presume that they took off due to the 5 people throwing rocks at the Lakes on that first day. We hope that they were not injured or killed by these few individuals. Ziggy will be released when ready, but if it was not for the volunteer rescuers saving Ziggy, he/she might not be with us today.
On the 1st December 2010, we took Ziggy back to Coburg Lake to see if he could re-unite him with his family. Things started off really well and the one resident family of swans seemed to accept him and he was having a great time swimming and feeding and mixing with the other juniorr swans. But, it didn't last - the adults eventually shooed him away. He didn't seem to mind that much - he came back on shore and went home with Heidi again. He seemed quite pleased that he had a good swim and was able to spread his wings out on a large body of water.
Some Onlookers at the Lake
