Wildlife experts battle to help stricken ducks in Horsham

John Potts from the animal welfare group Swans and Friends Bird Rescue is visiting the area daily after oil polluted the pond last week.

John rescued a male and female swan from the park soon after an alert was sounded when oil seeped into the park’s pond from a spillage in the grounds of Horsham Hospital on Wednesday.

The swans are currently being cared for at a bird sanctuary in Shepperton.

Horsham District Council has currently closed the park’s pond area to public access but John is attending daily with food and water for the ducks and moorhens.

“The birds are stil oiled and we can’t get to them,” he said. “But we’re putting food and water on the idland there.”

He said they were also providing shallow clean water ‘baths’ that the birds can use. “It will get some of the oil off them,” he said.

Meanwhile, contractors have been employed by Horsham Hospital to clear up the spillage. They are working in liaison with Horsham District Council, the Environment Agency and Southern Water.

The oil spill is the second time oil has polluted the pond in the past year.

The campaign group the Friends of Horsham Park is calling for action to ensure such pollution cannot recur.