Hooked Swan Saved From 'Further Hell' By Prospect Park Animal Group

BROOKLYN, NY — An animal safety group saved a swan in Prospect Park from "further hell" this week by removing a barbed fishing hook from the water fowl's body.

On Wednesday afternoon, members of an animal group known as Wildlife Interests, Learning and Development (WILD) for Prospect Park found a swan — who they identified as a young female — with a three-barbed fishing hook in her bill, according to a video.

"Come on baby, we're just trying to help you," said someone in the video, as the swan circled in a body of water at Prospect Park. "She was clearly panicky," the group wrote in a concurrent Facebook post.

Eventually, the swan came up on land, and members of WILD's "swan team" were able to cut the barbed-hook from her bill and neck — where it had also gotten attached, according to the post.

"If not caught when she was, she would have most likely drowned overnight," the group posted.

Catch-and-release fishing is allowed in Prospect Park (with a permit), but as the group pointed out, it is illegal to use barbed hooks in the city's parks, per New York's Department of Environmental Protection regulations.

"Using these illegal hooks will not only hurt, maim and kill our wildlife, if you are ever caught by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation you could get a hefty fine. Unfortunately, no one has ever seen an officer checking for illegal fishing gear or licenses," the group wrote.

The DEC did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

"We are awaiting the day when wildlife will no longer have to suffer at the hands of irresponsible people. We are also waiting for the day that people will adhere to the rules and that there is enforcement who will check to make sure people are abiding by these rules," WILD wrote.

Patch reached out to WILD to hear more about the swan's condition and rescue, but did not hear back by the time of this article's publication.

The rescued swan is not the first park fowl to be liberated from fishing equipment this year (or in years past).

In January, a swan that swallowed a fishing hook underwent a procedure at the Long Island Bird & Exotics Veterinary Clinic to get the hook removed, Patch reported.

"I've dealt with many, many, many over the years," Prospect Park's wildlife and aquatic technician, Marty Woess, told Patch at the time of hooked birds, noting that fishing equipment is often improperly discarded in the park, putting animals at risk of getting hooked.

Related Article: PHOTOS: City Swan Swallows Fish Hook, Gets Emergency Rescue