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Swans should be protected
Published Thursday, March 20, 2008
I read a recent article sent in by Jim Cote and the Schultz’ and I totally agree with their opinion of our DNR’s lack of interest in our swans and if they don’t care about their health, what are they doing with their time?
I’ve called twice and gotten no where. Several years ago, the swans had plastic collars that would build up with ice and one of our swans couldn’t lift his head, walked backwards and eventually starved to death. The river was open and they could have put a boat in the water at the dam on Hwy. 1 and gotten to him, but they were afraid to, so he died of starvation.
This year, we’ve had six swans die and don’t know what caused it. They were curled up as though they were asleep, but didn’t wake up. We had a young one by our dock at the entrance to a creek that runs through property. He was easily accessible but the others were on the ice in the middle of the river. When the ice melted, they floated away, but the young one is still here and it’s been a couple of months now.
The DNR answered my call and said they’d call a young man and if he was interested, he’d call me back and arrange a time to pick him up. Again, no response. Not even a call to explain why they weren’t coming.
So obviously, they don’t care and again we’ve found our DNR is absolutely useless. We’ve worked with Steve Kittelson with St. Paul’s DNR for years and recorded sightings and still have some that are still coming here since we started in 1992.
It’s a shame that now they aren’t endangered because no one cares.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Maggie and Bob Jeffries - Underwood
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 20, 2008 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
are you kidding me? to call the dnr useless because they didnt respond to a dead swan is absolutely rediculous, the mn dnr is busy working on real problems in the out doors right now such as bovine tv and fish limits and hunting cases, why does it bother you that a wild animal died in the wild, it happens all the time. if you dont like seeing animals die in winter than all i can suggest is not to look at animals in the winter, because every species has a death rate in the winter. "its a shame that now they arent endangered because no one cares.", really, if you care about swans so much then why would you hope them to be endangered. Do you know what endangered means. it dosent sound like it.
Posted by eripsni (anonymous) on March 20, 2008 at 1:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
agreed (with localfisherman).
Posted by Lori (anonymous) on March 20, 2008 at 2:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
localfisherman (& eripsni) are you KIDDING ME? "if you dont like seeing animals die in winter than all i can suggest is not to look at animals in the winter". "the mn dnr is busy working on real problems in the out doors" What type of heartless b*****d(s) are you? I hope to god you don't have any pets.
Posted by Mel (anonymous) on March 20, 2008 at 7:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Swans ARE protected, you can't shoot them. Animals die. Now if the DNR is still using those neck collars, they need to stop, it is to cold here for them. BTW Some of you need to watch a little less of the Animal channel.
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 20, 2008 at 11:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
miss lori its not that im heartless but an understaffed dnr does not have the time or money to worry about dead animals. i am more of a realistand there is a thing called the life cycle, everyone and everything goes through it. if you are so worried about the swans why dont you hire a vet to go ahead and do an autopsy on an animal that died of natural causes and waste your own money instead of trying to pressure the dnr into wasting tax dollars on your so called "problem".by the way i have 3 dogs and a cat, so what.
Posted by tanker8 (anonymous) on March 21, 2008 at 6:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Had someone been sitting in a duck blind and knocked it out of the air I'm sure the DNR would have reacted.
To have gone out, picked up the bird, and removed a food source for any number of scavangers would have been far more cruel.
Posted by goingfishing (anonymous) on March 21, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So, just why, with their great deal of concern for a dead Swan, didn't the Jeffries retrive the birds and do a proper burial or whatever they think should be done. To ask the taxpayers to take care of all dead wild animals is simply asking way too much.
Posted by Lori (anonymous) on March 21, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
localfishman - I feel sorry for your pets. And from your comments on this subject I believe that you are heartless.
Posted by kingdanno (anonymous) on March 21, 2008 at 4:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I for one love the taste of dead swan. Yes, I'm one of those heartless scavengers that eats what I can find. This past winter, I have had a hard time finding food because some do-gooders are removing the carcasses before I can devour their innards. Yes, this winter, I'm starving to death ... my fur has become blotchy, I've had a cough and now my ribs are sticking out. With this new snow fall, I'm not sure I'll make it to Spring so that I may reproduce. The death I am experiencing is painful and sad. I wish the "Animal Planet" do-gooders would just LET ME EAT!
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 21, 2008 at 6:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
lori from your comments i believe your clueless and my pets love their lives, they live quite better than the wild animals that have to fend for themselves when people are trying to pick up one of their food sources because it is "sad"
Posted by Lori (anonymous) on March 22, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
localfisherman - everytime you comment, you are proving my point. So thank you for that!
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 22, 2008 at 8:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
another clueless post from lori with nothing productive to say
Posted by heewayne (anonymous) on March 22, 2008 at 9:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
maybe they died from eating fish hooks that the localfisherman lost in the river last summer.
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 25, 2008 at 8:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
heewayne are all of your posts as idiotic as that last one. Ican tell you were just trying to be funny but it didnt work at all.
Posted by hohohed (anonymous) on March 27, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
localfisherman I think you should re-read the Jefferies artical before you speak your rubbish. They stated that they HAD BEEN BANDED AND HAD ICE BUILD UP . THEY COULDN'T EVEN HOLD THEIR HEADS UP. That does make it a major ploblem that falls back on the DNR and they should have done something. All bands are recorded so they should have checked if there were other factors possible in reguards to their death like age, or disease. I hunt, I process(butcher) our meat, and I like to eat it too. However,the DNR is and needs to be responsible for their actions and should have followed up. Swans ARE NOT born with 2" bands on their necks, and they didn't ask to have them put there that choice was made by the DNR. If that many are possibly dieing from complications of the bands in one flock, how many possibly die in all flocks ? The DNR should maybe do more research on long term effects from putting un-natural plastic accessories on wild animals of all kinds if its killing them. Defeats the DNR's purpose don't you think.
LeAnn Hedstrom-Grant
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 27, 2008 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
leanne i think you should reread the article. that was an incedent from "several years ago". i was commenting on the story at hand not something from many years ago, but while were talking about it margo states " one of OUR swans couldnt even lift its head up" and that "the dnr could have put a boat into the river but were afraid to". well i have to believe that if they were "afraid" they probably had good reason to be, and if it wasnt that bad then why did margo and bob sit back and watch while one of THIER swans died when they could have helped it on there own.
Posted by localfisherman (anonymous) on March 27, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
and another thing the dnr does not make the choice to band birds. that is the USFWS.
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