There are actually other issues regarding rescue swans. Does your state or local government require any permit or license to possess swans? Are you qualified to provide care prescribed by a veterinarian to an injured or ill swan? Finally, do you have a transporter's or shipping license to move injured or ill birds into your state?

Safety wise, we're not sure what your veterinarian is referring unless he is aware of specific predators in your area that could sense a swan that is sick or injured and would try to access your flock and continue to remain in the area.

As far as raising cygnets, again you will need to know if you have to have a breeder's permit for swans in your area. Bonding to humans (is actually known as imprinting) and is not a good thing, especially in swans. First, you can never replace the parents and cannot teach the swans how to be a swan, i.e., bathing, preening, feeding and most importantly, how to protect the birds from predators.

Swans can never be domesticated like a duck or goose. So, the only thing that they will understand if imprinted is: I am human, not a swan even though I will continue to act like a swan and have defensive, territorial issues with and against humans. Swans imprinted will also try to mate with a human. This may seem funny, but usually results in a human and/or the swan being injured and the swan having to be euthanized because it has hurt a human and ultimately, considered aggressive and dangerous. Finally, raising cygnets is a very time consuming labor of love. It consists of 24 hours of feeding, care and protection until the swans are approximately 4 months of age when they can be turned out onto a lake if predation is addressed.

In our opinion, if you do not need any special licenses and you have a veterinarian that can show you how to care for sick or injured swans and you have addressed the predation issue, we would recommend fostering injured or sick swans that cannot be returned to the wild. The Regal Swan