No, you cannot castrate a male swan and this will not help with his defensiveness. Swans have elevated levels of hormones during this time of year and the levels will return to normal in approximately 2 weeks. The more humane answer is to gently capture the swan (unless he has a nest and mate he is protecting), and place him in a pen that is 1/2 in water and 1/2 on land, zero entrance to the water, no abrasive substrate or steep area, totally enclosed top to bottom to prevent predators from assessing him by digging under or climbing over into the pen, and place a feeder in the pen. Keep him in the pen for 2 weeks or until the hormones return to normal.

If this is not possible, then you can stop him from attacking by shouting no and then gently place a sheet or blanket over him and place him back into the water. Once this occurs 2-3 times or as needed, he will stop coming out of the water. If you cannot perform this procedure, then ask a wildlife rescue group to help.

The major issue is to find out why he is attacking people and cars. Are they too close to his nest or did someone attack him or his nest/ mate? If this is the case, you may need to fence off the area immediately near the nest/mate to provide him with a sense of security. No matter what is done, it must be humane and take into account that something is causing this behavior and it should be addressed so that nothing happens to people, cars or the swan. The Regal Swan
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