Swan with sock pulled over head ‘could have died’

Lincolnshire Police said they believed the sock had been put on the animal deliberately because of “how snug the fit was and how far down the neck of the swan the tube was”

(Lincolnshire Police)

A swan which had a sock pulled over its head and neck in the UK would have died had it not been rescued, the RSPCA said.

The bird was spotted in the Catchwater Drain in Lincoln on May 2 and was reported to police by the Yorkshire Swan Rescue Hospital.