Decapitated swan discovered to be broken statue

March 7 (UPI) -- The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was called in to investigate what appeared to be a swan who was beheaded only for an officer to discover that it was only a broken statue.

A distressed woman called the RSPCA after spotting the statue laid out on some gravel in the suburb of Westbrook in Cheshire, England, after fearing the worse.

RSPCA inspector Claire Fisher then arrived on the scene and soon realized that no veterinary treatment would be necessary.

"We can only guess that a driver had seen the swan from the road -- which was some distance -- where it could have easily been mistaken for a real bird!" Fisher said in a press release before noting that the site manager of Gemini Business Park, where the statue was located, arranged for the piece to be fixed and placed back next to a fellow swan statue.

"We all had a laugh about this one and, to be honest, were just relieved there wasn't a swan that had suffered an awful death," Fisher continued.