Bad Erlach (Austria) - Shortly after New Year's Eve, a young mute swan was found alone and exhausted in Bad Erlach, Austria. After the animal was successfully nursed back to health, it was released into the wild. But now the bird is dead.

As "Ein Herz für Wildtiere" from Steinabrückl wrote on Facebook , the completely exhausted swan was brought to the animal welfare organization on 2 January. The bird had probably been separated from its family during the New Year's Eve fireworks.

"Despite an intensive search and many phone calls, we were unable to find any traces of his family or a group of swans in the area", the article stated.

The animal remained with the association for several days and was lovingly nursed back to health by keepers.

On January 9, exactly one week later, its rescuers decided to release it back into the wild. The swan was brought to Wiener Neustadt and released into the wild.

"He immediately joined a group of swans living there", continues "Ein Herz für Wildtiere".

The shock came just a few days after the release: walkers found the young swan lifeless. It was floating dead in the water. The association cannot explain the sudden death. The helpers were convinced that it was "ready to go back into the wild".

Criticism of the animal rights activists was not long in coming. For example, one user claimed that the association had "irresponsibly released the swan alone over the winter".

"Ein Herz für Wildtiere" does not want to take this lying down.

"Our record of many successful rescue operations shows that the death of an animal, as painful as it is, should not be a reason to discredit our work," the association defends itself.