A Leeds man took swift action after a swan was seen gallivanting around a busy Leeds road.
Adam Bowler, 36, saw the swan outside his house and attempted to coax it out of Gledhow Valley Road with a baguette.
Failing this, he called 999 as he was afraid the swan was an endanger to itself and members of the public.
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The swan was seen roaming the residential area at about 9.40am this morning (February 9) – but was stomping towards a major A-road, Roundhay Road.
Adam said: “It was just confusing, you don’t obviously see that kind of thing usually. It was just walking down the road. It was holding the traffic up. It wasn’t interested in eating bread or anything. We think it was trying to find its way back to Roundhay Park.
“Me and another member of the public tried to offer it bread, I think it was a baguette kind of bread. I tried to give it to the swan but it just wasn’t taking it.”
Adam said the swan seemed determined to plod through the road as he was unable to coax it out of the street with the baguette. It eventually crossed over to Roundhay Road.
So he took matters to West Yorkshire Police.
Adam said: “I tried to get through to 101 but I couldn’t get through to that. I thought that it was a danger to the public, possibly, so I called 999. If it jumped onto a car or something, the car might swerve or whatever, there could be a number of possibilities.”
A Police Community Support Officer arrived at about 10.20am, according to Adam.
The Geldhow man says that even though it was a tense situation, having to do three things at once (deal with swan, offer out of shreds of baguette and call the police),the event brightened up his morning.
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Adam said: “It was good to see something different. You hear a lot about the lockdowns, Covid and crime. It was just something different for the police to deal with. They did a good job.”
West Yorkshire Police has been approached for comment but Adam says they safely returned the swan to Roundhay Park, so it must have travelled a couple of miles on foot.
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