A trumpeter swan in Victoria Park has had a ring removed from its neck.
On Wednesday, the swan was seen with what appeared to be a baby’s plastic teething ring wrapped around its neck.
The City of Kitchener acknowledged the issue, saying it had dispatched staff to gain the swan’s trust by feeding it in order to remove the ring.
They said the swan wasn’t in distress at the time.
“The way the trumpeters feed is they pull up aquatic plants, so the trumpeter swan would have yanked up some aquatic plants, the ring would have come up with it, and as he lifted his head up to take in the plants it would have slipped over his head and onto his neck,” explains Liz Benneian Spokesperson for Trumpeter Swan Coalition
On Friday, the trumpeter swan, who flew into town alongside Otis the swan and his new mate, was seen ring-free.
A member of the Trumpeter Swan Restoration Group reportedly travelled to Kitchener from Burlington to help get it off.
He’s a male swan, hatched in 2016 to parents near Cambridge. He’s one of three cygnets that hatched to the pair that year.
He spent most of his winter on the Grand River near Caledonia.
Trumpeter swans in Ontario are wild birds, reintroduced to the province in the early 1980s after nearly being hunted to extinction.
After nearly 40 years of effort, there are about 1,000 trumpeter swans in Ontario.
