There are several reasons that you may not be having success with your Mute Swan breeding. If the habitats cannot support more swans, i.e., lack of food resources, pollution, lack of shelter or nesting areas, and the presence of predators, then the swans will control their numbers naturally. This means that they can practice a form of birth control and will limit their breeding numbers. If any of these issues is present, the chances of getting wild swans vs captive swans will even be more difficult.

Another plausible reason that you may not be successful in breeding the Mute Swans, is that there may be someone in your area that is oiling, addling or destroying the eggs. There is a concerted (misinformed and misdirected-but still a concerted) effort to try and kill as many Mute Swans as possible in the Ontario area. Just like the U.S., Canadian governmental wildlife agencies are trying to kill the Mute Swans to open their habitats to the larger Trumpeter Swans. Once the Mute Swans have been killed, the governmental agencies will introduce the Trumpeter Swans into those areas, try to increase the breeding numbers with the ultimate goal to use the larger swan species as a Trophy Waterfowl.

Hunting permits will be offered for a larger price to kill the Trumpeters and offset expenditures of governmental wildlife agencies, support their staff and salaries. Unfortunately, massacre vs management and selling wildlife lives to support government budgets are the new norm for wildlife agencies. Until taxpayers stand up and say no more, these management protocols will continue.

The Regal Swan