WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Two good Samaritans recently rushed to the rescue to save swans stuck for almost a week at the base of a waterfall in Worcester.
The swans were stuck in Salisbury Pond at Institute Park. On Thursday, video captured the moment Thomas Burns and Jonathan Booker stepped in to rescue the mother bird and her babies.
“They were stuck trying to fly up the basin and you could see they were tired,” Burns said. “They were worn out. They were angry — a lot of hissing and flapping going on.”
“They’ve been stuck down there so long and nobody’s doing anything about it,” Burns continued.
Some people who live in Worcester put up signs related to the birds, saying they called on city officials for six days to help save the swans. Some were ultimately frustrated by what they said was a lack of an urgent response.
Then, Burns and Booker took it upon themselves to act, crawling down into the basin and freeing the swans.
“I’m an animal lover, so I thought ‘That’s the right thing to do,’” Booker said.
While Burns and Booker were able to help, they said it was too late for one swan that Burns said got sucked down the drain.
This was the first time Burns has done a rescue like this. The same can’t be said for Booker, though, who is familiar with the dangers the bases of waterfalls pose to wildlife.
Booker previously rescued another swan from the same spot in Institute Park in 2021.
Speaking with 7NEWS on Friday, Burns and Booker were not giving up on their cause to protect the wildlife, now asking the city to do more to prevent situations like this from happening again.
“I do have faith in the government, the local government, and it’s just going to take the initiative of the citizens to go down and do what they have to do and write proper documentation given to the proper people,” Booker said.
Booker said he is encouraging people to go to Worcester City Hall and fill out complaint paperwork in hopes of seeing change.
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