Quote Originally Posted by smilingcat View Post
I thought swans were protected. And such you are not allowed to disturb them.

I sort of recall one of my co-workers many years ago of telling me a story where a hunter shot at a flock of geese in flight. The poor hunter's dumb luck brought down a swan instead. And add more insult, there happened to be a game warden who witnessed the whole thing. Hunter had his shotgun confiscated, and fined something like $8,000 for killing a swan. My co-worker wasn't the kind to make up stories like that so I believe him

Next time call a game warden.
Actually I did discuss my own swan incident with a game warden. This had happened a few years back and at the time I owned a restaurant in the small town of Pinckney and a conservation officer was a frequent luch guest. I talked to him about the swan chasing me and he warned me to protect myself as they can seriously injure a person with their powerful wings. Self defense is ok, people can protect themselves.

Of course what these people were doing at the park to that swan was unlawful. Michigan law states that a person cannot threaten or frighten wildlife or cause them undue stress. They were doing all of the above PLUS endangering their child's life. That swan was probably protecting it's territory and perhaps it's young (and doing a better job than the parents were of the human child). Nevertheless, they are wild creatures and as such will protect and defend. Besides harassing animals being against the law, there is a good reason to give them a wide berth when you are outdoors in their space.

I don't know the folks who were engaged in this behavior but am going to discuss this with persons responsible for patrolling and maintaining the park.