Why is our species first answer to any problem "kill it?"
See: Killing Kangaroos: The Responsible Thing to Do
"Report: Eradicate bay's mute swans; But advocates dispute findings" by Ashley Halsey III, Washington Post | May 16, 2009
Maryland's white mute swan population has dwindled from 4,000 to just a few hundred, and a sharply divided state panel is recommending that the species be eliminated to preserve wetlands and endangered native birds.
"The mute swan is an environmental hazard to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem," says a report being sent today to John R. Griffin, secretary of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. "The mute swan is one of the world's most aggressive species of waterfowl."
But two animal rights advocates who also served on the panel are issuing a sharply worded dissenting report, saying the species is less harmful to the bay than humans, and should not be exterminated.
"The bay does not need fewer swans," wrote John Grandy of the Humane Society and E. Joseph Lamp of the Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission. They defended the animals as an "engaging and captivating part of the Chesapeake Bay."
The primary report from the advisory committee appointed by Griffin, however, said the mute swans posed a "formidable threat" to native wildlife species, "feed aggressively" on fragile submerged grasses, and that efforts to eliminate the remaining swans, estimated to number 500, should continue.
"Conservationists are not in favor of protecting a beautiful but dangerous invasive waterfowl," Jonathan McKnight, the report's author, said in an interview. The advisory group ultimately descended into acrimony between environmentalists and animal rights advocates.
Grandy's and Lamp's dissenting report was accompanied by a letter from the Humane Society, which said "the callous and brutal treatment that these magnificent swans receive at the hands of the Maryland DNR is simply appalling." Grandy and Lamp argue that any damage caused by the swans is minimal and does not warrant lethal measures. They asked Griffin to produce proof that reducing the swan population has preserved bay grasses.
Mute swans are native to Asia and Europe, but the first five imported to Maryland arrived in 1962 as "lawn ornaments" at a Talbot County estate, according to McKnight. The population expanded rapidly from those three males and two females, reaching about 4,000 by the year 2000.
Gloablization causes so many problems beyond economics!
The swans, which can stand as tall as four feet on land and weigh close to 30 pounds, soon lived in tidal waters throughout the state, with the greatest numbers along the central and lower Eastern Shore around the Choptank River.
They have drawn the ire of conservationists on two counts: they trample and usurp habitat of endangered native birds, and they uproot the shallow-water grasses where young crabs and fish find refuge.
"They cause extreme degradation to underwater grasses," said Kim Coble, executive director in Maryland for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Coble said the foundation favors non-lethal controls, primarily coating eggs with oil that prevents them from hatching, but backs the state program to kill the birds as a last resort.
I guess people just don't care about birds.
See: Fly Away Little Birdie, Fly, Fly, Fly
--more--"Of course, murder isn't the only MSM solution for animals.
It depends on their agenda-pushing usefulness.
Related: Animals Advance the Agenda: Seals of Torture
Animals Advance the Agenda: Bats in the Boston Globe's Belfrey
Animals Advance the Agenda: Birds of a Feather
Animals Advance the Agenda: March of the Penguins
Animals Advance the Agenda: Vain Experiments
Animals Advance the Agenda: Flipper Surfaces
