As an individual who has frequented this web site for many years, I feel compelled to bring this to the attention of all fellow swan lovers both here and abroad.

The following information is posted on the web site of The Humane Society of the United States informing the public of the current attempt to wipe out the population of Mute Swans in Maryland

"For years, Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has been killing thousands of mute swans in the Chesapeake Bay. Since 2005, the agency has killed 4,023, and now, there are less than 450 swans left in the Bay. The DNR claims that the swans are damaging the ecosystem by consuming aquatic plants, but there is absolutely no evidence to back up this claim and it's established that the major cause of damage to the Bay is the 500 million pounds of pollutants that factory farms and sewage treatment plants dump into the Bay each year. Because there is no conclusive proof that mute swans are native to the U.S., they are being used as a scapegoat in the controversy over the Bay.

Not only is the DNR’s management plan inhumane and unnecessary, but eyewitnesses have reported that the killings are randomized and just plain cruel. In cases where swans are captured, the swans’ necks are crushed and “separated” with a bolt-cutter like implement that “dislocates” the neck vertebrae/spinal cord.

The DNR still continues to ignore options for non-lethal management of mute swans. One of these options would be egg- addling, a process involving temporarily removing eggs from their nests, terminating embryo development, then replacing the eggs. The Humane Society of the United States has offered to cooperatively conduct this viable alternative to killing, only to be refused by the DNR."

PLEASE join me and others in signing a petition addressed to Maryland Governor, Martin O'Malley to stop the continued eradication of the remaining Chesapeake Bay swans. In the words of talk show host Montell Williams: "The only thing that can change the course of this misbegotten, outrageous campaign is for people to speak up." It is going to take many of us to step up and speak out....

BE A VOICE FOR MARYLANDS MUTE SWANS!!!!

Sign the following petition:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/mute-swans.html

To learn more about this deplorable situation go to: