Prospect Park Swan Squad watching over cygnets rejected by dad

This Brooklyn Swan Lake story is not ending in tragedy.

The two Prospect Park baby swans that were heartlessly rejected by their deadbeat dad after spending a month in rehab recovering from a suspected dog attack are flourishing thanks to a dedicated group of animal lovers.

Plankton and Wachowski are surviving under the watchful eye of the so-called “Swan Squad” — a crew of volunteers determined to protect the 7-month-old cygnets until they can learn to fly on their own.

“We’re there every day and we’re watching and they’re getting their strength back. It’s a matter of time — we just want to get them back to where they’re strong enough to get out,” said Bary Beth Artz, a founder of the squad.

The five-person crew, which formed years ago to advocate for a previous swan family, has been standing guard over the duo since their heartbreaking release back to the Prospect Park Lake on Sunday.

The pair were initially trepid to return to the wild after spending a month being hand-fed and cared for at the Wild Bird Fund’s Upper West Side rehabilitation center, but were noticeably eager to rejoin their parents and three siblings.

But after an hour, things quickly turned sour.

“Biggie, the dad started to swim after them and started to view them as intruders, as opposed to one of the five siblings that he had there,” Artz explained.

“It didn’t seem terrible at first and we were hopeful … He would swim pretty fast and puff his wings and chase them onto land. That’s when we realized this could get a little dicey.”

The rejection by Biggie — a loving father who reliably chased away any duck or human that came too close to his babies — was tragic, but not unexpected by rescuers, who theorize the month-long absence filled with human touch is to blame.

They instead moved Wachowski, who is female, and Plankton, whose sex is unclear, to a small enclave of the 60-acre lake near the boathouse, where they should be safe from their abusive father — though Biggie has made some aggressive moves toward them when their paths have crossed.

The Swan Squad has been working in shifts to monitor the cygnets, feed them and ensure neither Biggie nor humans get too close to the pair, a mission they have committed to until the pair can fly on their own and leave the lake they were raised in.

Plankton and Wachowski should be able to take flight in the coming weeks. Cynets typically live with their parents for roughly a year before they are kicked from the nest and the parents start preparing for the next clutch.

Despite being in exile, the Swan Squad is very optimistic about the two birds, who are glued to each other’s sides.

“They have each other, and that’s a positive thing. If one was taken out and you had to go into rehab, that one would be by itself and be ostracized,” Artz explained.

Their tale is especially inspiring to rescuers, considering the state they were found in last month.

They spent 29 days at the WBF’s Upper West Side rehabilitation center after parkgoers found the pair gushing blood from above their eyes in what rescuers believe came from an off-leashed dog attack.

The injuries were so severe that they required sutures — and one of Wachowski’s eyes was so infected that it had clouded over and was threatened by permanent blindness.

“Those wounds needed daily care, such as cleaning, debriding, monitoring for infection and, in one case, resuturing. Medication, some manual feeding and constant monitoring for foot infections were all part of the rehab process,” a WBF spokesperson told The Post.

“It’s unnatural for swans and other waterfowl to be out of the water for long periods of time, and they can easily develop sores on the pads of their feet. They also lose some waterproofing, which must be restored before they can be released, so it’s a race against time to get them well enough to swim before they develop new problems.”

Plankton and Wachowski did get some swimming in while at the WBF, though in a small pool that they shared with a toy swan.