AR-News: Mute Swans -- Mass.

[Priscilla Feral]

A townonline.com article from svartan at friendsofanimals.org

To view the entire article, go to http://www.townonline.com/wakefield/news/opinion/wak_letwkvartan08202003.htm

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Letter: Killings not justified 


Wednesday, August 20, 2003









To the editor: In the article "Swans, the Ugly Truth" (Wakefield Observer, August 14) Wakefield's animal control officer spoke for many people when he stated "I don't think if you're having a problem with an animal the answer is to shoot it." Yet that's exactly what the federal government wants to do: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service thinks that shooting swans will solve some of the human-caused problems that plague our waterways.

Nicholas Throckmorton states in the article that none of the public comments submitted to counter the Fish and Wildlife Service's documents offer credible scientific information about mute swan impacts. In fact, the service's own documentation lacks credible scientific information in support of the killing. The burden to justify killing animals should be placed squarely on the service.

But few studies have been made about mute swans, and the service cites anecdotal reports, information from incomplete studies, and outdated reports to back up its position. The Fish and Wildlife Service would do well to recall the adage a first-year science student learns, "Correlation is not causation." The simple presence of mute swans and deteriorating waterways does not mean that mute swans cause the problem. Killing birds does not address the lingering problem of pollution and development.

Starre Vartan

Friends of Animals

Darien, Conn.




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