He was so far from home.
It was a calm morning on Apex Mountain in Canada, and Brandi Hansen was driving her Jeep through the evergreen forest when she noticed a white figure standing motionless in the road up ahead.
Hansen, a pilot, was due to captain a plane out of the local airport. But when she realized the figure was an animal in need, she knew she had to stop.
The “magnificent” bird in the road was a trumpeter swan. As a wildlife enthusiast trained in search and rescue, Hansen immediately understood that the bird was out of place, far from the low-elevation wetland habitat he usually calls home.
Hansen carefully approached the swan and saw blood on his feathers. The bird took a few steps toward her — another worrying sign, as wild swans typically act defensively toward humans.
“Its calm demeanor toward my approach indicated shock and desperation rather than typical wild wariness,” Hansen told The Dodo.
Aided by her daughter, Sienna, Hansen crouched low to the ground and gently draped the swan in a wool blanket. She covered the bird’s eyes to minimize his stress and moved him to her car. Rather than risk further delay, she drove 40 minutes straight to SPCA Penticton Veterinary Hospital.
Safe at the hospital, experts, including Dr. Mike Tigchelaar, treated the bird’s wounds and helped manage his pain. Eventually, team members transferred the swan to Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, where he continued his recovery. Within days, the swan made huge strides, and soon he was ready to be released back into a protected wetland.
Hansen is thrilled to have used her expertise to help this swan, especially considering that trumpeter swans are a rarity in the area.
This magnificent creature I managed to rescue and bring to Dr. Mike at the SPCA for medical treatment which was then…Posted by Brandi Hansen on Saturday, January 17, 2026
“This rescue feels profoundly rewarding,” Hansen said. “Trumpeter swans are a conservation success story in [British Columbia], rebounding from near-extinction through such interventions.”
Thanks to Hansen and so many other wildlife experts, this swan is out of the mountains and back where he belongs.