A federal appeals court has ruled that mute swans in Maryland and 12 other states must be protected under federal law, even though state biologists say the visitors from Asia have become a beautiful nuisance. The ruling has halted, at least temporarily, a long-planned state effort to control the swans' exploding population in Chesapeake Bay waters.
The orange-beaked birds, natives of Asia by way of Europe, were imported for their beauty in the 1800s. But unlike the black-beaked tundra swans which visit the Chesapeake region for the winter, mute swans live here year-round, gobbling up the underwater grasses that sustain a variety of bay creatures and attacking the nests of rare native birds. Wildlife managers say there are now about 4,000 of them, and they estimate the population will double by 2003.
Hunters are forbidden to shoot mute swans under current state rules, though state biologists and some community groups track down their nests and coat the eggs with vegetable oil to prevent them from hatching.
John Surrick, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources, said that after two years of planning, the agency was on the verge of outlining an official mute swan control policy. Early versions included creating "swan-free zones" and, as a last resort, shooting the most troublesome birds.
But Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of two bird-lovers who sued the federal government over its refusal to protect mute swans under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Joyce Hill, a Dorchester County resident, and Kathryn Burton, the Connecticut-based founder and president of Save Our Swans USA, argued that when Congress ordered the federal government to protect "wild ducks, geese and swans," that included mute swans.
Hill and Burton lost in federal trial court a year ago. But the three-judge appeals panel said it was "plain" that mute swans are swans, and therefore must be protected under the federal act.
The panel said the federal government can, within the limits of the migratory bird law, take steps to control the damage done by mute swans, including possibly hunting, capturing or killing them.
"The appeals court said a swan is a swan is a swan, and I really think this is a momentous decision," said Hill, who for 34 years has lived part time on Hooper Island, in an area where the mute swan population is dense.
