What is the Maryland Department of Natural Resources plan for mute swan management?
In 2003, despite the vehement objections of its citizens, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) declared war on the Chesapeake Bay’s mute swan population, and for the last five years, the agency has slaughtered adults and cygnets in the Chesapeake Bay, claiming it was necessary to stop them from eating submerged aquatic vegetation—a natural food source for swans and hundreds of thousands of other waterfowl that reside, winter and breed in the Bay. As of 2002,there were approximately 3,624 mute swans in Maryland, but since 2003, the DNR has killed approximately 3,100 swans and the killing continues today. According to eye witnesses, swans are being killed randomly without any regard to even alleged “damage.
