TWO crews of firefighters assisted with the rescue of a swan which was trapped behind a fence in Iford.

The bird was spotted a short distance from railway tracks over Iford Lane by a member of the public.

On arrival, they requested a Railway Incident Officer from Network Rail to help with the rescue of the bird, which was behind a locked fence near the train line.

Bournemouth Echo:

The RSPCA were also called.

Chris Summers, 57, from Southbourne was out walking his two dogs when he noticed the swan. He said: "It was about 9.30am to 10am when I saw it.

"I went to get a cup of tea from home and came back to find there was a lady stood nearby. There was no way that I could have got round the fence myself."

Watch manager Ian Read from Westbourne Fire Station said: "We were called to a swan trapped between the railway embankment and the fence.

"When we attended, the swan didn't appear to be in any distress, but we had to request a Railway Incident Officer to attend due to the location of the swan.

"Once he was there, we can actually go trackside, but in this case that wasn't necessary."

He added that the fire service have an Animal Rescue Unit, which is normally called out to deal with large animals, but a crew will always be sent in the first instance to assess the situation.

He went on to say that if members of the public find a trapped animal, they should never attempt the rescue themselves and should always call the fire service.

Gemma Gumble, an RSPCA animal collection officer, said that the swan had a lot of blood on its wing, but did not yet know the extent of the damage to the bird until it has been checked over by a vet.