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A mute swan tales flight over Onondaga Lake.

(Mike Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo last night signed a bill that essentially puts the brakes on the state Department of Environmental Conservation's plans to significantly reduce the state's mute swan population.

Two previous bills designed to save the swans, drafted by State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, passed both the state Senate and Assembly in 2014 and 2015, but were vetoed by Cuomo.

Evidentally, the third time was the charm.

The DEC has maintained all along that mute swans are invasive and non-native species that cause damage and problems to the state's wildlife and for people.

"Mute swans can cause a variety of problems, including aggressive behavior towards people, destruction of submerged aquatic vegetation, displacement of native wildlife species, degradation of water quality, and potential hazards to aviation," the DEC said.

The DEC estimates the state's mute swan population at 2,200, with three distinct populations on Long Island, the lower Hudson Valley and along Lake Ontario. Native to Eurasia, the elegant birds were imported in the late 1800s to grace parks and estates and have established wild populations.



Avella and the Friends of Animals, the group that first approached the senator about the DEC's plans, don't buy the DEC's statements about the problems caused by the birds - problems that would require their removal from the landscape.

"I and many animal rights organizations and activists remain skeptical that such drastic measures are necessary until evidence proves otherwise," Avella told the Queens Chronicle this summer. "When they say unnatural, they've been here since before the 1900s, they're not unnatural anymore, they're part of the environment."

The bill will require the DEC to conduct two public hearings before it finalizes its plans to manage the swans and create a two-year moratorium period before any action is taken.

Additionally, the DEC will have to provide scientific evidence to the environmental damage that that they claimed the birds would cause. If evidence would show that the birds do have a negative impact on the environment, the bill would require the DEC to find alternatives to euthanasia.

Following widespread criticism by animal rights groups and others on its 2014 proposal, the DEC came up with a revised plan in 2015. It emphasize protecting wild wetland habitats and other wildlife affected by the birds' presence, while stating that mute swans could remain in urban parks and other controlled settings.

It also emphasized a more "regional approach," citing differences between downstate and upstate bird numbers and attitudes toward them."

Avella and the animal rights groups that supported his bill, were not satisfied and a bill was drafted again this year in an attempt to save the swans.

Supporters of the DEC's plan were not happy with the governor signing the bill after vetoing twice before.

Jason Kemper, chairman of the state's Conservation Fund Advisory board, said his panel strongly supported the DEC's initiative concerning mute swans.

"It is especially efficient to do so while their populations are at a relatively low number," Kemper said in letter to Cuomo urging a third veto. "If we wait too long, eradicating this invasive species will become extremely expensive. As seen in other states, mute swans can increase rapidly and they do great harm to native fish and wildlife through their destruction of aquatic vegetation.

"They are also aggressive towards native waterfowl, and through their behavior, drive these important species away from protected habitats," Kemper wrote.