Cary resident blames careless neighbors for injured swan

CARY, NC (WTVD) -- For years Rod Kulyk has walked from his home to a lake in Cary's Lochmere subdivision where he feeds swans bits of chopped lettuce.

Something caught his eye Saturday on his walk to the water.

"I saw something shiny coming off her right foot and right then, I noticed there was a problem," said Kulyk.

A large, barbed fishing hook, about four inches long, was stuck in one of the swan's right foot.

Kulyk said it's a problem that's been going on for years.

"You put a fishing in the hands of an unsupervised kid or an unconscious adult and this is the result you're gonna get," he said, as he motioned to the bird in the water tugging at the hook wedged in its webbed foot. "I call it animal abuse."

Cary Animal Control sent an officer to help, but when the swan swam away, they told Kulyk to call again when the bird came on shore.

Kulyk posted a sign by the lake, for all his neighbors, that warned them of the swan in distress, asking them to call animal control if it was spotted on dry land.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Local Wildlife Rehab Agency, who is used in cases like this, told ABC11 their hands are tied since the bird belongs to the Lochmere HOA.

ABC11 contacted the HOA, but so far, have not heard back.

A sign posted near the water, by the HOA, states that barbed hooks are banned.

Still, Kulyk has a bag full of hooks, lures, and a fishing line that he said he's found along the water's edge and in the trees over the years