In case anyone missed this--interesting news on Mute Swans.  Hurrah, I say!


State to resume killing of mute swans

Culling of 1,500 birds from population of 4,000 expected to begin in spring
By Candus Thomson
Sun Staff

Originally published December 9, 2004

A last-minute addition to an omnibus federal spending bill has cleared the
way for Maryland wildlife officials to resume killing mute swans that
destroy Chesapeake Bay grasses.

The language, approved Tuesday night, removes an ambiguity in the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act that allowed a federal judge to halt a state plan to
eradicate 525 adult swans last year. Those swans and as many as 94 other
non-native species will no longer be protected by the act.

President Bush signed the bill into law yesterday.

"We are extremely relieved," said Jonathan McKnight, head of the invasive
species program for the Department of Natural Resources. "Now we have a
daunting task ahead of us."

Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, an Eastern Shore Republican, slipped the language
into the bill at the request of state officials and environmental groups.

They see the swans as beautiful nuisances that ruin local habitats and
drive out other species. Outraged animal-rights groups have opposed the
killings, arguing that the swans are scapegoats for the bay's problems.

McKnight said he expects biologists to begin culling 1,500 birds from an
estimated population of 4,000 in the spring.

Opponents who fought the killings in the courts and in Annapolis hearing
rooms called Gilchrest's maneuver "undemocratic and underhanded."

"It is subterfuge," said Michael Markarian, president of the Fund for
Animals. "They couldn't get it passed on its merits as a standalone bill,
so they pushed it through the back door. By the time we found out, it was
too late, there was nothing we could do about it."

Gilchrest defended the process, saying he worked with legislators in both
houses from seven states.

"I was able to work with Democrats and environmental groups. Every
environmental group known to reasonable people was in favor of this," he
said. "If this had been brought to the floor as a [standalone] bill, I'm
convinced it would have had at least 300 votes."

Today's mute swan population is descended from a dozen birds that a wealthy
Eastern Shore landowner imported from Europe in the 1950s to decorate his
estate. The birds took to their new surroundings and bred throughout the
bay.

But the newcomers came at a price. Each adult can eat up to 8 pounds of
underwater grasses daily -- eliminating critical vegetation that filters
bay water and controls erosion. The birds also squeeze out native
waterfowl, bay experts say.

The issue divided environmental and animal rights groups, pitting the
National Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy and the American Bird
Conservancy against the Fund for Animals, the Humane Society of the United
States and the Bluewater Network.

Opponents complained that the state blamed the swans rather than dealing
with development and agricultural runoff issues around the bay.

They also argued that the swans are protected under four international
migratory treaties that make no distinction between "native" and "non-
native" species because the birds spend winters and summers on different
continents.

"Congress is substituting its judgment for the executive branch, which
negotiated these treaties," Markarian said of the change exempting the
swans and other non-native species from protection. "This has really split
environmental groups down the middle. It shows there's no consensus on what
non-native is."

But John Bianchi, a spokesman for the National Audubon Society, said the
question of native and non-native becomes irrelevant when the species is
introduced by man. He said it's important to act quickly to control
invasive animals before they destroy habitat and eliminate native species.

Early last year, DNR proposed killing 525 mute swans as a starting point,
and Maryland was one of several Eastern states that received permits to do
so from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Eastern Shore residents and animal-rights groups sued in U.S. District
Court in Washington to stop the plan. In September last year, they got an
injunction from Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who indicated he was likely to
rule in favor of the plaintiffs in a trial. After that, the Fish and
Wildlife Service rescinded the permits.

DNR's McKnight said the birds will be shot or euthanized. In addition,
biologists will addle the eggs in more than 350 nests, which means shaking
the eggs to scramble the embryos. They will also coat the shells with
vegetable oil, which blocks oxygen.