SUPERVET star Noel Fitzpatrick has won praise after a video of him rescuing a stranded swan from the middle of a busy road in Dublin went viral.
The Co. Laois native, 50, stopped traffic to chase the "poor confused fella" off a main road and onto the pavement in footage widely shared on Twitter.
He then wrapped the swan in his jacket, before taking the animal to a nearby canal where it swam away.
The Irishman, whose vetenary practise in Surrey – Fitzpatrick Referrals – became the focus of the Channel 4 show after its debut in 2014, had been in a taxi on his was to an interview with Ray D'Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1 at the time.
On route to the next interview in Dublin this afternoon and we came across this poor confused fella who was stuck in the middle of the main road. Having experienced many Swan rescues down the years I knew I could help... mission accomplished...now happy and safe at home x pic.twitter.com/wXoOIk8JKP
— Noel Fitzpatrick (@ProfNoelFitz) 6 November 2018
"Having experienced many swan rescues down the years I knew I could help. Mission accomplished," he tweeted.
"[The swan] is now happy and safe at home".
Speaking shortly later during his interview, Fitzpatrick added: "My wrist is killing me, he was huge! We were rushing from Grafton Street down here and across the canal and a swan just mistook the road for the canal because it’s blizzarding rain down there.
"It just landed on the road right in front of a taxi cab and trucks were coming and bikes were swerving and I said ‘pull the car over!'
"Fortunately, I had a lovely tweed jacket that I had just done a TV interview in, and that was perfect for getting a swan safely under it and I ran him back to the canal and released him."
