Mute swan showdown: Genoa Township under fire for move to remove birds

[marmar]

(Detroit Free Press) Animal rights activists are targeting the Genoa Township Board of Trustee's Monday meeting to protest what they contend is a planned "swan massacre."

Noting that the birds — an invasive species in Michigan — have become a "problem" and are attacking residents, township officials approved a resolution last month that allows for the mute swan population to be removed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

According to the DNR, mute swans are an invasive species that endanger wildlife, destroy wetland habitats and threaten humans. Mute swans are not to be confused with trumpeter swans, which DNR say are a quieter and less aggressive species.

“If we do nothing, the damage and conflicts mute swans create across the state will have long-term effects,” a DNR document says. ..............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/08/16/genoa-township-resolution-remove-mute-swans-animal-activists/8144469002/

[MiHale]

1. I'm all for a lottery hunt...

Limited hunt, hunters chosen by lottery, limited well defined locations, one or at most two days. Works for sturgeon fishing when it’s allowed. That’s to save a species but the formula is there.

Mute swans are a pain. Trumpeters are so much nicer but I don’t think they are quieter, you should hear them talk to each other in the spring. Live with both around. The ponds on the AuSable are populated sometimes quite heavily during spring, get about a hundred of them together…what a delightful cacophony.