Local celebrity swan taken back to hospital

June Casagrande

Just when the peninsula community thought everything was fine with

Pearl the black swan, she’s back in the hospital -- this time for

about two months.

What’s worse: Some work going on at the Wetlands Wildlife Care

Center will make it hard for her human caregivers to make good on a

promise to keep her mate Rupert by her side.

Pearl, a local celebrity of sorts, landed in the hospital early

this month after what appeared to be a dog bite to her leg became

severely infected. Rupert was reportedly pining away the entire week

she was gone, crying on the beach outside the home of surrogate swan

mom Gay Wassall-Kelly. She was finally back on her feet on earlier

this month, and she and Rupert were visibly glad to be back together.

“They were pining for each other,” Kelly said.

Now, Pearl’s wound has become reinfected, threatening to damage

the tiny bones in her leg. So veterinarians at the Wetlands and

Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach aren’t taking any chances.

They will keep her for two months so they can make sure she gets

antibiotics every day until the wound is fully healed. Her medicals

bills will run high, too, with antibiotics alone costing more than

$500.

Animal-care workers would rather keep Rupert by her side the whole

time to avoid putting the pair through any more heartache, but this

time, they’re going to have to wait.

“It’s better to keep them together,” said Debbie McGuire, wildlife

director for the care center. “Pearl loses weight when they’re apart

and Rupert goes around calling for her.”

But until around Oct. 8, there’s no place to keep Rupert. The open

outdoor area at the center where the two theoretically would frolic

is undergoing some work. A new outdoor surface is being installed

that’s healthier for the sea birds to walk around on.

“Hopefully, though, by Oct. 8 or 9, we can bring Rupert here and

have them both outside together,” McGuire said.