Watch the moment Eastbourne volunteers catch and clean a swan covered in engine oil

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service rescued two swans on October 1 after reports from concerned locals. This comes after two other swans were rescued on September 28.

WRAS operations director Trevor Weeks said, “I am amazed anyone would think that disposing oil down a drain is acceptable. It’s horrendous and life threatening to local wildlife.

“I hope whoever has been doing so in the Birch Road Industrial Estate area sees this and thinks twice in future.

Trevor attended the site near to Manton Court with rescuer Ellie Langridge and together they were able to catch the oil covered swans.

A WRAS spokesperson said, “We received multiple calls from local residents of Manton Court off Leeds Avenue after seeing a pair of clean white swans swim past the flats and then half an hour later see them black with oil.”

Ellie said, “One swan was heavily covered in oil and you could smell a diesel like smell on them. The poor swan was trying to preen the oil off its feathers but clearly didn’t like the taste.”

The swans were taken to the WRAS casualty centre where lead casualty manager, Katie Nunn-Nash, was able to start washing the oil off the birds.

Katie said, “This oil seems thicker than on the first two swans from Saturday. It has been much harder to clean off and these swans will need multiple washes to clean them up and get them back to full health.”

Watch the video footage from East Sussex WRAS here.