A friend with a pair of white swans is very upset by the males behavior. The male is old (23 years), female is a new mate for about 3 years (old female had died). This year was this pair's first successful hatch, 5 babies about a week ago. One of the babies was "peachy" colored, the others gray. The male kept picking on the light colored one, which upset the female, who tried to protect it. He finally killed the baby, and has chased the female away (she stays behind the house, cannot go into the pond out front). He has the other babies with him. He is very aggressive towards my friend, chasing her and ripping up some flowers she had planted when she fed the female! She cannot even retrieve the dead chick for fear of attack by him. Why would he do this? Will he ever allow the female back? Any other insight into the situation?

Thank you for any help you can give.
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