Three Upstate NY teens kill & eat mother swan, steal her 4 babies. Boys claim they thought they had hunted a large duck as Faye the swan in Manlius is remembered.
Three teens have been accused of killing and eating a beloved mother swan in a small upstate New York village. The teens are alleged to also have kidnapped the swan’s four babies along with leaving the mother swan’s life-long mate swimming alone in the small pond.
Faye the swan was allegedly killed and eaten on Memorial Day in Manlius — a village of 4,600 people in the suburbs of Syracuse, which is home to a pond where generations of town-owned swans have lived since 1905.
Cops said Wednesday that the teens — three friends, ages 16, 17 and 18 — claimed to have mistook Faye as a large duck when they slaughtered her and made her into dinner.
Intended to raise stolen baby birds as pets
‘They did not know that it was a swan, and they did not know that it was not a wild animal, that it was actually owned by the Village of Manlius,’ Manlius Police Sgt. Ken Hatter said.
All three suspects — including the eldest, who was identified as Eman Hussan of Syracuse — were charged with felony grand larceny and criminal mischief, as well as misdemeanor conspiracy and criminal trespass, CNY Central reported.
The suspects were trying to go hunting, when they jumped a fence surrounding the Manlius Swan Pond between midnight and 3 a.m. Monday and killed Faye while she was nesting.
Upon killing Faye, the youths then took her carcas to one of their homes, where they cooked and ate it.
The teens also grabbed Faye’s four babies — known as cygnets — planning to keep them as pets.
Male swan forced from swan for fear of retaliating against baby swans
Police in a statement on Facebook said hat multiple tips from citizen led them to the location of two of the missing cygnets at a business at the Shop City Plaza in Salina, New York.
The remaining two cygents were later recovered at a private home in Syracuse.
Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall said that all four baby swans, which are about 4 weeks old, are now in the care of a biologist who looks after the health of the town’s swans.
Faye’s mate, Manny, was was not harmed in the attack. He was pictured swimming alone in the pond Tuesday.
He will be removed from the water and relocated before his and Faye’s cygnets are put back in the pond.
Whorrall explained that because swans mate for life, Manny could become ‘combative’ if he encounters the young swans.
