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West Bloomfield may backpedal on mute swans
Feedback from West Bloomfield Township residents protesting a decision last month to remove mute swans, their nests and eggs from township lakes has prompted township officials to consider rescinding the resolution adopted last month. The Board of Trustees is expected to consider nixing the controversial resolution on Monday, July 16. (Spinal Column Newsweekly photo/Amy K. Lockard)
The West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees is expected at its Monday, July 16 meeting to consider rescinding a resolution it previously approved to remove mute swans, their nests and eggs from township lakes.
The board originally approved the resolution at its June 18 meeting after Michael Mankvitz, a board member of the Middle Straits Lake Association, and other residents expressed concerns — such as attacks on small boats and people on the water — by aggressive swans in the area.
The resolution applies to the entire township, but lake associations would have the option to opt out if they don’t want the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to come in to remove swans.
However, since the resolution’s approval, the township has received feedback from other residents protesting the removal of the swans, which would be handled by the DNR.
Township Clerk Cathy Shaughnessy said that she has not yet signed the resolution and said that the township board was given some “misinformation.”
Township Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste said that she recently met with members of the Michigan Human Society, who explained to her that the DNR’s process of swan removal involves euthanasia and that it considers it inhumane.
“I don’t believe it’s the health and safety risk that it was made out to be,” Ureste said. “Mute swans are no different than trumpeter swans.”
The DNR in January created the Mute Swan Management and Control Program Policy with the short-term goal of reducing the statewide mute swan population growth to zero on all lands, and the long-term goal of maintaining a spring population of less than 2,000 mute swans throughout Michigan by 2030.
Those in favor of the swan removal also argued that mute swans are not a native species to the state and that population growth has led to damage to the lakes’ natural habitat and ecosystem. In addition, proponents say, ducks, herons, and other waterfowl species are being chased away by the mute swans.
Mute swans are protected under state law and can only be removed under a DNR-issued permit.
So far this year, Waterford Township has refused to approve the removal of mute swan eggs and nests while Wolverine Lake has agreed to allow the DNR to come in and remove mute swan eggs and nests from village sites.
4 Responses to West Bloomfield may backpedal on mute swans
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Peter Habsburg
July 9, 2012 at 11:02 am
I have been attached by a very agressive male swan on several occasions on the east end of Middle Straits lake and I try to stay several hundred feet away from their nesting area. I like swans for their beauty and make every effort not to antagonize this big fellow but because my standup Jetski is small he charges me and has physicaly beat my craft with his wings while I was near our comunity swin area and also at the boat launch. If this occured while I was dismounted out in the water the situation could become quite dangerous.
I am concerned if either of my teenagers were attached. Something needs to be done about this particular bird!
Bronya Lerman
July 9, 2012 at 3:08 pm
We have a pair of swans on our small lake in West Bloomfield (the name of the lake ommitted on purpose) for the past 10 years. The swans keep the geese away from the lake and lake front properties and we are very grateful. We are humans, and we can figure out how to stay away from the swans, when they are trying to protect their nest and their young ones. In the past 10 years our swans have had no luck in raising their babies due to turtles and other predators. It is our right to protect ourselves, but in this case it is outrageously cruel for townships to even consider killing the swans, just because they spooked a few residents out of thousand of residents. If you ask me the swans are not a nuisance, the jet skies are. Please keep the swans alive.
AJ
July 11, 2012 at 11:55 pm
Several comments and opinions on this news item were deleted by SCN staff.
This type of censorship, especially coming from a news organization, is directly at odds with the people’s right to freedom of speech.
And SCN and its editors and staff should know better than to infringe on that right – which is one they themselves hold dear!
Derek Archambeau
July 16, 2012 at 9:01 am
I live near Middle Straits Lake but not on the lake. I do belong to a beach on the Northeasterly side of the lake. Many time, while my family is at the beach, I see this dangerous swan attack jet skiers on the lake. They are doing absolutely nothing to provoke this animal. The one gentleman who I assumed lived on the South side of the lake, brought his jet ski into his dock and had to dive off and run up to the house as this swan flew from the North side of the lake to the South side, attacking the jet ski and flapping his wings on it. Had the jet ski had a human present, someone could have been killed by this dangerous animal. Perhaps all of those against it, need to go out on a jet ski and get attacked to see if they still feel the same way.