'Killer' swans on the loose in central England

LONDON (AFP) - Dog owners in a town in central England were urged to beware of killer swans after two of their canine friends were drowned by enraged birds.

Mansfield district council reported that a male swan had fatally attacked a dog that had dived into a pond at a local park, with an animal rights activist describing the behavior as "highly unusual."

The council said the swan, a bird known by animal experts to be fiercely protective of their territory and family, had merely sought to protect its offspring.

It was the second such deadly incident in as many weeks.

Earlier this week, a third dog was also badly injured by a swan at another Mansfield park.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&ncid=1516&e=3&u=/afp/20040525/od_afp/britain_animals_swans_040525205015

But unnamed intelligence officials insist there was no way to know precisely when and where the killer swans were intending to carry out their evil deeds.

:-)

Oddly, I believe that there is an archaic law that means only the Queen (or someone acting for her) is allowed to kill swans in the UK. The only place you could eat roast swan is at dinner with her....

I suggest that her racist, gun-toting husband is despatched ASAP to blow these fowl menaces back to whichever corner of Hades they emerged from.......

P.

Do they still make "TJ Swan"? Man, that stuff would KILL you the next day.

They'll attack people, if they feel threatened. I've seen them attack kids. Our neighbors owned and bred swans. Every spring, they'd get even more vicious than usual during nesting season. I saw the male swan attack a 4 year old pretty viciously and I saw it kill a baby duck one time. Luckily, it backed down from me when I yelled at it, but I was a pre-teen at the time and not a small child.