Richard Collins: Human crisis will offer chance for wild animal research

A puma hunts for food in Santiago, Chile in March of this year. Getty Images.

In October 1986, 52 mute swans, living peacefully on the Tolka in Dublin, were drenched in diesel oil accidentally released into the river. Swan-catchers went into action; only one bird died before they reached it.

Following three-months of tender loving care by the DSPCA and Dublin Corporation, 42 swans were restored to health and released to the wild. The incident, a disaster for the unfortunate birds, seemed a fatal blow to a study of swans I was conducting at the time. But was it?