A group of Sussex wildlife experts has been called to help colleagues in Kent who are dealing with the deaths of 173 swans.
Five workers with the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service (WRAS) went to Canterbury yesterday after being called up by the National Swan Sanctuary.
The swans have been found dead throughout a huge area of wetlands called the Monkton Marshes over the past two weeks.
The swans, which are a protected species, had flown into a network of power cables which are part of the National Grid.
Trevor Weeks, a rescue officer with the WRAS, expects to be on the site for two days.
He said: "The area is huge and the swans have been found in dykes and undergrowth.
"They have flown into the cables during their migration. It is a large number of swans.
"Local people have said they have seen it happen before but not as many as this time."
Mr Weeks and the WRAS team will be trying to find any injured swans in time to give them emergency treatment.
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