When our next guest found a sick swan while hiking
in New York City, she did what anyone would do.
She picked up the swan, she walked a mile back
to a main road, convinced some strangers
to give her and the swan a ride in their car
to the nearest subway, rode the subway for 20 minutes,
then convinced her friends to drive
her and the swan another hour to the nearest bird rehab center.
Please welcome Ariel Cordova-Rojas.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Hi.
Hi, Ariel.
I read the story and I immediately
called and said let's book her because I just
love what you did.
Let's start with-- I know you rode your bike--
it was your birthday.
And tell everybody how you come across with the sick swan.
Yes, it was the eve of my 30th birthday.
I'm an avid naturalist [INAUDIBLE]
and I was like, what a better way to celebrate
than to take a light hike to some birding at Jamaica Bay
Wildlife Refuge.
I took about a two-hour trip from [INAUDIBLE],,
where I live, via train and bicycle
until I get to the refuge.
I walked out on the trail, and I'm just
like looking at the sunset and all the birds
swimming in the water and going across.
And then I see this lone swan sitting
on the edge of the pond in the grass, and I'm like,
she's just there for several minutes.
And I'm like, this ain't right.
Something's wrong with her.
You go over and you could tell--
because you know about birds--
that she didn't try to get away, so you
knew something was wrong with her.
Then you take your jacket off--
and that's the way and anybody else who
wants to capture a swan--
you put the jacket over her head to keep her calm, right?
And when she caught-- once you picked her up--
and how heavy is that?
Like 20 pounds?
She came in at 17, but you don't really feel the difference.
It feels like 20 pounds of walking with her.
Right, so you're walking--
obviously, you can't take your bike.
You're walking with this swan.
And how was she when you were walking?
Did she try to get out of your arms or she just
stayed in your arms?
So this is what is good about it is she wasn't aggressive.
She wasn't trying to bite me, she
wasn't trying to wing slap me, but that's also what's
wrong with the situation.
Swans are territorial and aggressive.
So the fact that she wasn't trying to fight me
meant that there was something wrong with her
and she wasn't feeling good.
Then you rode-- you did cars, trains, planes,
and automobiles.
You're on a subway in New York, and no one cares.
No one was even paying attention that a swan
was on the subway with you.
Were you worried that you were losing her at any point
or did you think she was going to make it?
She was fairly healthy.
I just knew that in the future, there would be an issue.
So on the outside, she was good but it
was more of all the internal problems going on
without her being able to walk, which was the main issue that I
noticed.
She wouldn't be able to access food.
If you can't eat, you're probably not going
to make it too much longer.
She's now at the Wild Bird Fund in New York City.
And we have a live feed going there right now,
and let's look at her.
She has a boyfriend, apparently.
That's her.
This is a live feed.
How often does swans meet and get along like that?
Isn't that kind of unique?
To make a love connection?
Yes, it is.
They are monogamous at times, but they also make friends.
We've had in the center before up to five swans.
And that pool can take four swans.
And they'll just relax.
But just like people, they have individual personalities.
And they may not get along.
This was just so lucky.
She's now in her--
you named her Bay because of the Bay.
And this is Pearl, her boyfriend,
who was also rescued.
And they seem to be-- now when they get released,
will they go together?
Because like you said, they're monogamous.
You don't want to separate them now, right?
No, but that's the hope that the main thing with them is
we have to get them out as soon as they are healthy.
Because the longer they're in the clinic,
a stressful environment where they don't have
the open space-- the outside, they can actually
regress in their treatment.
They can get worse.
The main issue is getting them out when they're ready.
And if we can, we'll try as hard as possible
to keep them together.
Yeah, I hope so, too.
That's so sweet that she has a little connection with Pearl.
It turns out she had lead poisoning.
That's what was wrong with her, right?
And how did she get lead poisoning?
Just in the bay?
Yes.
With the swans in particular, they're big-bodied animals,
they have big necks, they're diving down into the water
to get their food.
And sometimes they'll pick up things that
aren't food like lead anchors.
And over time, those anchors will leach the lead in it,
will leach out into their system,
and then cause things like leg creases, which she has.
She's swimming now, which is great, but she couldn't walk.
She couldn't move her legs when I picked her up.
Well, she looks-- am I looking at--
is she in the water or is she outside the water?
Which one is she?
Bay is the one in the water with her wings
kind of lifted up and giving that nice little booty shake.
And Pearl is the one that's standing.
They have opposite issues.
She can't really use her legs that well.
He can't really use his wings this well.
Although they look much better now, so match made in heaven.
Well, that's so great.
All right, we have more with Ariel after this.
We'll be right back.
Now, how long will they be at the rehabilitation center?
There's no way to know for certain.
She's on some anti-fungal medication.
She's on medication to get rid of the lead poisoning,
but she's definitely doing better.
It could be a few weeks.
It could be a few months.
It all depends on whenever she can stand and really
get good use of her legs again.
Well, as an animal lover, it must
make you feel really good knowing
that everything that you went through saved the swan's life.
And I have a surprise for you.
I have been talking to my friends at Shutterfly.
We had this idea about starting a new contest.
You will not believe this, but the contest
was to find the world's greatest swan rescuer.
[TRUMPETS SOUNDING]
Yeah.
It's weird because the contests haven't even started yet,
but I think I can officially name you the winner.
You are the world's greatest swan rescuer.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Yes.
And because you're the winner, Shutterfly
loves celebrating everyday heroes like you.
You're also getting $20,000.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much.
I think you're amazing.
I love people like you who do things
like that not knowing that anybody would ever notice it.