Half of swans at Bolton park infected with deadly fungus

Of 30 swans at Moses Gate Country Park, ’10 to 15’ are exhibiting symptoms of ‘pink feather syndrome’.

It’s caused by a fungus that develops when bread – fed to the swans by humans – starts decaying in water.

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An urgent warning has been issued to visitors of a popular Bolton park after two swans had to be rescued - after turning pink. The RSPCA rescued the birds from Moses Gate Country Park after their feathers changed colour. Now the animal charity is warning members of the public to avoid feeding bread to the birds. According to the RSPCA, ‘pink feather syndrome’ is caused by a fungus that develops when bread starts decaying in water. The fungus then gets on the swan’s bill and is transferred to their feathers when they preen – using their beak to position and clean their feathers – turning them pink.

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The RSPCA rescued two badly affected swans from Moses Gate and took them to Sale Water Park, which is said to have a lower proportion of people feeding bread to the birds.

The pink fungus gets on the swan’s bill as it eats and is transferred to their feathers when they preen – using their beak to position and clean their feathers. It can affect the swans’ natural waterproofing and can mean they become unable to fly.

Two swans had to be rescued from Moses Gate after their feathers turned pink (Image: RSPCA)

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Speaking in front of the rescued swans at Sale Water Park, animal rescue officer Stephen Wickham, who rescued the swans, said: “Once a swan becomes un-waterproof it will get cold, it won’t be able to fly, it’ll get hypothermia and eventually can die, because they’ve got nothing to keep themselves warm.

“The water will just hold there and won’t run off. They become very cold and shivery and liable to become very unwell.”

Stephen, who has been in the RSPCA for nearly 30 years, explained that the team had visited Moses Gate after receiving a report of one swan in distress – before finding another that also needed immediate care.

Stopfordian Stephen has worked in the RSPCA for nearly 30 years (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

The 49-year-old said: “I originally went up just for one, because we had a picture of one which was really poorly and waterlogged.

“When I got up there, there was another one in exactly the same condition. We took that away as well and got that one washed.

“There are quite a few more up at Moses Gate which aren’t as bad as these two were, but are starting to show the signs of it.

“There’s probably about 30-odd swans up there minimum, and you probably see about 10, 15, of them up there which are starting to go pink.

The swans have been released at Sale Water Park (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

“The trouble is people go up and dump a whole load of rice, white bread, chippatas and things like that thinking they’re doing the swans favours, but it’s not – they’re just filling them up and it’s causing this issue.

“It’s a bit like in the 1970s everyone smoked because they didn’t know what it caused at the end of the day. Nowadays, everyone knows what’s happened with cigarettes.

“It’s the same with white bread, we all used to feed it, I probably did when I was younger. But now, knowing what it does, we’re trying to advise people not to.”

One of the two swans rescued by the team (front) (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

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The swans, who are being monitored, are expected to make a full recovery by summer.

Stephen added: “They’re doing really well, they’ve settled in. They’re eating normal food, they’re eating the weed from the bottom, and they’re getting fed normal food like corn and swan food here.

“We have got quite a few people who monitor them around here as well.”

At Sale Water Park, couple Lillian and Erno Szabo had visited with the intention of feeding bread to the birds.

However, upon being informed of the danger, they decided to throw their loaf into the bin.

Lillian and Erno Szabo had visited with the intention of feeding bread to the birds (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

Lillian, from Chorlton, said: “I was coming to feed the ducks with the bread, I hadn’t heard of that.

“I thought it’d be… they’re hungry and they might need food, especially in the winter.”

The 77-year-old added: “Don’t feed bread to the ducks and the birds!”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.