Police in Weymouth, Dorset, encountered a real-life recreation of the comedic swan-catching scene from the 2007 film Hot Fuzz when they responded to a white swan blocking traffic on Swannery Bridge on Thursday evening. Officers arrived promptly and blocked the road as the bird waddled towards the carriageway, then carefully approached it to encourage it back into Radipole Lake beneath the bridge. After a five-minute stand-off, the swan complied and re-entered the water, allowing traffic to resume.

The incident echoes previous swan-rescue operations by UK police forces, including a 2023 rescue from the M1 motorway near Nottingham where officers captured the bird and transported it by police car to Attenborough Nature Reserve, and an earlier incident in Bath where three officers escorted a young swan from the city centre back to the river. The Hot Fuzz film reference is apt, as the 2007 comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost features a memorable subplot where their police characters are repeatedly asked "no luck catching them swans, then?" whilst attempting to apprehend a troublesome bird.