LOCAL veterinary staff dashed to the aid of an injured swan on Lydney Boating Lake.
The swan had fishing line tightly wrapped around its wing and had been trying to remove it when it caught its tongue on the hook.
Deborah McMillan of Lydney spotted the injured bird while she was out walking her two West Highland terriers and reported it to the RSPCA.
She said: "It is not unusual for birds to be injured here – I feed the geese every day and I see a lot of fishing line lying around.
"So many people use the lake and like to bring their children here to feed the ducks. There is not one safe area where the birds can be fed away from fishermen."
She also made emergency calls to South West Swan Rescue, but Lydney's Sundean Veterinary Centre staff were first on the scene.
Sundean head nurse Teresa Horspool and nurse Christine Wright arrived at the lake in minutes.
They attracted the bird with bread and immobilised it in a blanket before taking it to the surgery for treatment, while its mate watched in distress from the water.
Mrs Horspool said: "We unravelled the fishing wire and snipped it all away. All the blood was coming from its mouth where it had lacerated its tongue on the fish hook.
"The swan is generally healthy and of a good weight. We gave it some antibiotics to prevent infection and the Swan Rescue people came to release it back into the lake."
"In this case, we got to the bird so early on that it didn't have time to do itself too much damage," said Mrs Horspool.
"If Deborah had not been so quick to react he may have got much worse and could have ended up with an infection on his wing."