Last year, people were quacking mad after the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) drafted up a "management plan" [PDF] which called for the total elimination of NY's mute swam population by 2025. But good news for those who feel slightly icky at the thought of 2,200 animals being literally executed by guns or gas: the DEC has scuttled the initial, aggressive plan. Instead, they will curtail the population with birth control.
"The big victory is that they’re not going to slaughter the swans of Sheepshead Bay," Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz told constituents on Friday, according to the Post. "Sheepshead Bay wouldn’t be the same without the mute swans. They’re synonymous with grace and beauty. Yes, they may hiss sometimes, but this is New York, so they’re entitled."
The DEC has labeled the mute swans an "invasive, non-native" species, because they were first brought here in the late 1800s by Europeans for use as living lawn ornaments. Around 500 were discharged into the wild around 1910, and they've proliferated ever since. Their population has tripled in the past three decades.
The DEC received more than 16,000 letters and 30,000 signatures on various petitions from swan lovers hoping to help them avoid the fate of so many geese. There's only one way to celebrate this stay of execution:
