Victory for New York's Mute Swans
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Friends of Animals (FOA)
November 2016

The law will establish a two-year moratorium on the NY Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) controversial 2013 plan to exterminate New York’s mute swans by 2025 and declare the birds a “prohibited species,” which has been under revision because of backlash from Friends of Animals and the public.

We did it! Thank you to all of our supporters who took action and urged NY Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the mute swan saving bill into law. Drafted with input from Friends of Animals and introduced by Senator Tony Avella in 2014, the bill protects the states 2,200 mute swans from a government-sanctioned death sentence.

After being vetoed twice by the Governor, this is an example of what type of victories can be achieved with perseverance and the support of our members. The law will establish a two-year moratorium on the NY Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) controversial 2013 plan to exterminate New York’s mute swans by 2025 and declare the birds a “prohibited species,” which has been under revision because of backlash from Friends of Animals and the public.

The law also requires DEC to demonstrate that the swans have caused actual damage to the environment or to other species, including humans.

“Since the 1980s we have lobbied in the New England area to protect mute swans from nest destruction, egg addling and hunting, which have all been considered as wildlife management schemes. Governors have been deceived by the agencies that come up with these insidious plans that lack scientific evidence,” said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals. “We are ecstatic about this victory and that NYDEC’s hateful attitude towards mute swans has been reversed—it is out of step with the very residents of New York whose tax dollars fund the agency.”

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