Goslings Rescued from River Thrive in Luxury Heated Nursery
'Barge babies' all safe and well at Swan Sanctuary
The goslings are being cared for along with rescued ducklings
Four baby Egyptian geese, rescued last month from the hold of a Thames barge near Putney, are thriving in their new home, the Swan Sanctuary in Shepperton in Middlesex.
They are sharing their quarters with a number of orphaned ducklings and a spokesman for the sanctuary says, “ They are all doing very well.”
The tiny goslings were spotted by Holly Walters, a volunteer with RNLI Chiswick, while out on an exercise on 25 March. One was waddling around the deck of a Port of London Authority (PLA) barge near Putney and the other three had fallen into the vessel’s cargo with no means of escape.
With no mother goose in sight, Holly teamed up the next day with RNLI Chiswick crew member Tim Hallac and a vet from the Swan Sanctuary to rescue the babies.
Now, says a Swan Sanctuary spokesman: “ It is very early in the season so we do not have very many at the moment, consequently the ducklings and the goslings are sharing a pen and a heater. They will be with us until they are old enough to be placed on our lake.”
The Swan Sanctuary has been dedicated to the care and treatment of swans and waterfowl since it was set up by the late Dot Beeson MBE in her back garden in the 1980s. In 2005, Dot and her partner Stephen Knight were able to move to the current site, which has its own hospital and protected lake.
You can find out more about the work of the sanctuary, make a donation or join its sponsorship scheme by visiting its website.
For information on how to stay safe on or near water or find out more about their work, visit Chiswick RNLI’s website.
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April 22, 2022