The last surviving swan on Southampton Common Ornamental Lake has been found dead by the City Council.
The news follows multiple injuries and one death of cygnets in the same lake last summer, blamed on contamination by an increase in levels of toxic blue green algae.
One of the swans, a young female cygnet, was found with ‘extremely unwell’ with leeches feeding off of her.
The corpse of the last remaining swan was discovered on Sunday, 19th January.
A spokesperson for the council commented:
We thoroughly checked the body to ensure that there were no signs that the bird had been attacked. We contacted both the RSPCA and DEFRA to determine the process for the notification of the death to ensure that we were following set procedures.
Officials have suggested that it is unlikely the bird was killed by the toxins that caused the deaths of other swans in August.
The boating lake is currently empty, but will be refilled in coming months.
