Swans, the elegant birds that have been seen throughout many of our classic fables and fairly tales have the potential to possibly have the ability to attack and drown us? Wait…what?

According to this article a man three years ago was charged and capsized the boat of a 37-year-old man named Anthony Hensely who subsequently drowned as a result of the attack.  And years prior another swan was attacking boats and flying into visiting families.

So should we starting getting scared?

According to Dr. Michael Brooke we shouldn’t be at all. With their wingspan up to 7.9 ft and their weight of 33 lbs, they might be large but they aren’t that scary. Swans pose no threat to actual adults. Our size alone could overbear them and the only true threat they pose are against young children and elders. Brooke states that swan aggression is a myth so we shouldn’t use their wingspan alone as an excuse to run away from them. Like any other animal in nature, swans attack or could potentially pose a threat when they feel they are being harmed which aggravates them.  “If you overstep the line they will make contact, and if you really push it they might take a bite – but they don’t attack people for the fun of it,” Brooke said.

According to Britannica, animals experience two forms of aggression; “Predatory or anti predatory aggression, in which animals prey upon or defend themselves from other animals of different species, and intraspecific aggression, in which animals attack members of their own species.” It is clearly evident that in some of the stories listed above regarding swan attacks pertain to predatory aggression due to the fact that the particular incident  felt threatening to them causing them to attack.

However, others have a quite different take on swans and impact of dangerous they could truly be. According to the article “Swan Lake Revisited: New York State Plans To Exterminate Mute Swans, Calling Them ‘Invasive Species’” by Palash Ghosh claims swans are an “prohibitive invasive species who pose a grave threat to humans, to other creatures and their habitats.” Ghosh explains that swans pose threats towards humans, destruction of aquatic vegetation, degradation of water quality and potential hazards to aviation. The destruction that they cause essentially leads to hurting the habitat for surrounding fish and damages the food chain. Swan feces also contain a high level of coliform bacteria which is a major threat to drinking, swimming, and shellfish fishing. Coliform bacteria is found in the intestinal tract of both humans and animals and when it comes in contact with fecal contamination could cause diarrhea and dysenteric symptoms.

The problems that swans have caused as well as the increase of population have started the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to begin thinking about killing some of these birds off. “The department temporarily plans to kill all of the estimated 2,200 mute swans in the state of New York by the year 2025.” Lethal control methods will include shooting them off, live captures, and euthanasia. While this may help eliminate attacks that have stemmed from aggression as well as help the aquatic habitat it still doesn’t stop the people who love swans to be devastated. However, DEC’s argument claims to be that they can’t ignore the negative impacts this bird as caused  just because of the sheer beauty of it.

While it seems cruel to kill off wildlife due to for the most part “rare attacks” in my opinion I also feel that we can’t risk such negative impacts of it either. While we do need to look out for our wildlife, we owe it to our society and species to keep safe living for us alive as well.