Why is the Government Coming After Our Swans?

First, they wanted to kill Bambi; now the government has the Ugly Duckling, all-grown-up, in its crosshairs.

Last year, when the Long Island Farm Bureau and the Wildlife Services division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture floated a program to "cull" the deer population of East Hampton Town and Village--it involved sharpshooters--it caused quite a kerfuffle. In response the Town and Village put a bullet in the plan and left the deer to their own devices.

This time, it's the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the target is our population of mute swans. The DEC would like to see the species eradicated by 2025. It asserts that the 2,200 extant creatures have become an invasive and aggressive species, threatening people and black terns due to increased competition for diminishing wetlands due to encroachment by development. (The government has no current plans to go after developers.)

So far, there have been no fiery debates or petitions, but one local man is speaking out.

Larry Penny, The East Hampton Star's naturalist columnist for many years and former director of natural resources and environmental preservation in East Hampton was outspoken in his condemnation in his column of Feb. 12 of the Department of Environmental Conservation's plan to eradicate mute white swans. Penny points out that the swans in Town Pond have become an enduring symbol of the area, and he extols the swans' virtues as spouses and parents, comparing their versions of the nuclear family to the iconic ones presided over by Blondie and Dagwood and Ozzie and Harriet Nelson.

Penny is in full agreement with Hugh Raffles, an anthropology professor at The New School who recently wrote a defense of the mute birds in a New York Times op-ed "Speaking Up for the Mute Swan" According to Raffles, the species also known as the Cygnus olor came to North America from Europe sometime after the Civil War and their natural enemies are foxes and raccoons.

Thankfully, The Huffington Post  reveals a happier ending may be in store for the beleaguered swans. Sag Harbor's own New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. and State Senator Kenneth LaValle of Port Jefferson have sponsored a moratorium that forestalls eradication of the birds until the DEC can prove the swans cause "actual damage to the environment or other species."

What do you think about the plan to eliminate the swans? Let us know in the comments.