Bubble bath cure for the pink swans

Usually being in the pink is considered to be a good thing, but not if you are part of the Queen's flock of swans.

The normally pure white birds have been struck by a syndrome - the so-called Pink Feather Flamingo syndrome - that is turning them into passable imitations of their tropical counterparts.

The mystery illness causes the swans not only to change colour but also to lose their waterproof coating, leading the weakest to die from the cold in the winter.



But now, after a two-year investigation, scientists in America have found a solution: a bubble bath using Fairy Liquid. The Regal Swan Team, a research group based in Orlando, Florida, isolated the bacterium responsible for the pink discolouration and discovered that washing the swans with Fairy returned the feathers to their normal colour within two weeks.

Knowing that compounds founds in detergents can help to remove bacteria, they tested several products and concluded that Fairy Liquid successfully removed the microbes.

Shirley Bolin, a member of the US research team, said: "This is a huge breakthrough. We recommend that swan keepers immediately begin collecting the swans and bathe them with the Fairy Liquid."

via Arbroath