The Noble, Gentle Swan Is Anything but, to Some

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Known for gliding along local waterways with statuesque grace, the mute swan is rarely thought of as an environmental hazard.
 
But wildlife experts say that the swan’s elegant facade conceals an ecological menace that devours shoreline vegetation, scares away other waterfowl and can even attack humans. The bird is now a target of a campaign to reduce its numbers in the state’s delicate coastline habitats.

The leaders of the effort are conservationists, including the Connecticut Audubon Society, which in the coming months will intensify a campaign to urge state officials to control the swans’ population, which stands at about 1,100.

Milan Bull, the senior director of science and conservation at the society, said the state’s population of mute swans in vulnerable shoreline habitats was at dangerously high levels and must be dealt with, lest the birds continue to eat away at the ecosystems and push indigenous species out.

“The waterfowl biologists and the plant ecologists have told us that mute swans really are having a serious impact,” Mr. Bull said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “We know there’s a problem. I think we need to do something about it.”

In the past, efforts by state and federal environmental officials to control the swan population have been heatedly opposed by animal rights advocates and by residents who admire the birds.

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