Hi folks, This is a sad, local example of a world wide problem: Wildlife trapped in or choking on or ingesting and dying from discarded plastic. Whether Right Whales fouled in commercial fishing gear or Turtles eating plastic bags and 6 pack rings, or Swans choking, the cause and results are the same.
Proper disposal of all trash is critical. It's something we take for granted that the Town provides. We pay for it with our taxes. We should continue to do so, and to find a way to expand collection to all residents in Framingham, Apartment, Condo, or Single Family, as part of what we do to keep our Town clean and safe. (Yes, that's a political comment about the recent litigation about the Pelham Apartments.) Same goes for State and Federal Programs. Joel A Feingold -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Peter C.S. Adams Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 5:03 PM To: Framingham Neighbors Subject: Swan deaths linked to trash on shore An unfortunate comment on the condition of our "natural" places: Residents near lake fear for future of swans They say animals are being strangled by fishing lines By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff, 7/7/2003 <http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/188/metro/Residents_near_lake_fear_for_fut ure_of_swans+.shtml> The elegant family of four glided peacefully across Framing-ham's Gleason Pond on a warm morning last week, just days after the violent deaths of at least two of its youngest members. >From her dining room table, Nicola Cataldo peeked at the swans through her binoculars -- she has a pair in every window -- and expressed frustration over what she calls "senseless killings." According to neighbors, three of the family's baby swans, called cygnets, died late last month, two when they became entangled in discarded fishing lines. The cause of death for the third, which went missing and is presumed dead, is unclear, though some speculate it ingested broken glass or other hazardous material. Only two cygnets remain. "It's pitiful and sad beyond belief," said Cataldo, who has statues of swans in her dining room. "To have them killed in these long torturous ways by the people who say they love them is more irony than I can stand." After years of largely unsuccessful rescue efforts, Cataldo, a retired scientist who studied reptiles and amphibians, is now urging residents to clean up the banks and stop feeding the swans, saying that luring them out of the water for food brings them into a deathtrap of broken glass, fishing lines, and other debris lining the banks. On one side of the 12-acre kettle pond near downtown Framingham, she's put a sign that says: "Do Not Feed Swans: Baby swans are dying from ingesting broken glass and fishing line." Linda Cocca, wildlife information coordinator at the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said it was the first complaint she had received about baby swans dying, but that her group, along with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, does not recommend feeding any waterfowl, including swans. While acknowledging residents' concerns about the safety of the birds, Cocca pointed out that the birds are not native to America, often chase off mallards, and other ducks, and can be aggressive. Despite their drawbacks, the swans remain a source of pride and joy for the people who live at Gleason Pond. Barbara Collins said she and her husband wait each year for the swans to arrive and often circle the pond to admire them. The swan family dwindles throughout the summer, she said, as the birds die prematurely because of human carelessness and the occasional snapping turtle. The recent spate of baby swan deaths has left her saddened and frustrated. "I feel so awful about what happened," she said. "It's a horrible death to be killed by [a] snapping turtle, but it's just more awful for them to get caught up in the fishing line." Dot Besson, founder of The Swan Sanctuary, a charity based in Britain dedicated to the welfare of swans, wrote in an e-mail that fishing lines "are a common hazard that causes daily problems for us. It's impossible to keep swans and fishermen apart, so all we can do is encourage fishermen to be responsible -- to regularly clear broken fishing lines from the trees and shrubs surrounding the water." Despite her best efforts, Cataldo arrived too late to help the babies caught in the fishing line last week. One was trapped for 48 hours, and the other was tangled overnight before Cataldo could get to the scene. In the past, Cataldo has gotten friends involved in rescue missions that require separate boats to corral adult swans while someone in the water attends to baby swans. Sometimes it works. Other times it doesn't. "It's just really a shame. People don't understand what appropriate behavior is," said Steve Orr, a Town Meeting member who took part in one of the recent rescue missions. "You see a beautiful swan and you think you can feed it or bring it to the bank. You can't." Jenn Abelson can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 7/7/2003. Copyright (c) 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Swans: Feathered friend or foe? Opinions differ on whether or not to shoot the birds to control population By Rob Haneisen / News Staff Writer Tuesday, July 8, 2003 Metrowest Daily News <http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/fram_swans07082003.ht m> FRAMINGHAM -- While residents around Gleason Pond are saddened by the recent deaths of baby swans entangled in fishing line, the federal government may hand out death sentences to some of those that remain. Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a plan that would wipe out up to 85 percent of the swan population on the East Coast over a 10-year period. The agency believes the swans, an introduced species from Eurasia, pose a threat to native waterfowl and destroy habitat. If the federal government approves the plan, it would likely allow individual states to issue permits to shoot the graceful birds found in city ponds, country lakes and streams and brackish estuaries. The proposal is open for public comment until July 14. The plan has swan lovers aghast. "If this argument about invasive species is nothing but a cover for a new source of hunting license revenue this is a travesty," said Framingham resident and local conservationist Nicola Cataldo. "This is junk science at its worst." Cataldo lives next to Gleason Pond and has watched families of swans for the last five years live peacefully with mallards and herons. She says the federal agency is wrong about swan behavior and how destructive they can be. Cataldo also has a different take on the swans -- introduced to private estate gardens in Boston around the turn of the last century -- being an invasive species. "It's always been my point that if there is a food source and an animal enlarges its territory to take advantage, it is the definition of evolution," she said. State and federal officials differ with Cataldo. There are about 1,000 mute swans in Massachusetts that threaten sensitive waterfowl habitat and damage cranberry bogs, according to MassWildlife Assistant Director Tom French. Other swans native to North America include trumpeter swans and tundra swans, but neither are found in New England. While he does not foresee open hunting season on adult swans, French said the exploding mute swan population must be addressed. "Complete eradication is not realistic, though biologically it is justified," French said. A more publicly palatable solution to the swans in the Bay State may be to control their reproduction, French said, but there is no licensed product available to do that. "Swans are beautiful, elegant birds with a lot of emotional attachment, and then there are the other realities of swans as well," said state biologist Marion Larson. If the swan population is allowed to grow here unchecked, swans and their waste could rival another nuisance bird -- resident Canada geese, Larson said. The public perception of swans is a major problem for government agencies and residents. The government wants to treat the animals as pests; some of the public treats them like pets. At Gleason Pond, two cygnets (baby swans) died recently, weeks after becoming entangled in fishing line. A third swan has disappeared. Cataldo blames the deaths on neighbors who continue to feed the swans, an act which encourages the waterfowl to walk out of the water and into areas where fishing line and glass pollute the 10-acre pond shoreline. Cataldo has tried to educate her neighbors that feeding the swans is not only unhealthy for the birds but dangerous. "It's a crazy situation where my neighbors will continue to kill these animals and then turn to me and ask why they are dying," Cataldo said. "A majority are cool with it and have stopped but a couple continue to feed. They are emotional and love the swans and the idea that they have killed them sets them off in an emotional way." Gleason Pond neighbor Joy Kuhn is saddened by the deaths of cygnets, especially after it appeared they had grown too large for hungry snapping turtles. Two years ago, giant snapping turtles in the pond devoured five cygnets and several ducklings. "It's natural for people to want to feed them but the best policy is not to feed them," Kuhn said. Many would agree. French and Larson from MassWildlife said they strongly discourage any feeding of swans. The birds are doing fine without the help of goodhearted people. "It makes young ones think people are a source of food," Larson said. But if the federal government passes a new policy on swans, people might be approaching swans with something much more lethal than cracked corn. Katherine Burton, president of Save Our Swans USA, based in Lyme, Conn., also discourages swan feeding but adamantly opposes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to kill the birds. She said the federal government is rehashing old and unverified information about swan damage to the environment. Her organization, along with the Fund For Animals, filed a successful lawsuit against U.S. Fish and Wildlife earlier this year that stopped the federal agency from handing out permits to states for mute swan culling. The current proposal from the federal agency is in its environmental assessment stage, which allows public comment until July 14. The previous proposal did not include an environmental assessment, which was why the lawsuit was successful, Burton said. "Swans are one issue where the environmental community says they are an invasive species and that the population should be checked, but animal rights people believe they have a right to live," said Nicholas Throckmorton, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, D.C. "It's too bad we have to butt heads on this." Throckmorton said the preferred alternative presented in the plan is to shoot swans. "Shooting is the most humane," he said. There are about 14,000 mute swans along the East Coast. The Federal government would like to see that number reduced to 3,000 in 10 years. "We don't want to eradicate them altogether," Throckmorton said. "But they have no natural predators and are thriving and their population is not in check." Comments on the proposal may be e-mailed to [EMAIL PROTECTED] before the Monday deadline. If all goes as planned, the federal government will allow states by the end of summer to hand out permits for swan culling. French said he doesn't think Massachusetts will establish a swan hunting season, but he hasn't come up with a clear plan to hold the line on the swans either. "People have personal biases that have nothing to do with biology," French said. "With the swan, it is tied up in beauty and emotion and all of the positive human attributes that people are attracted to." Beautiful or not, the swans are a problem that is not going away. "They are well established and spread and increase rapidly," French said. "The more they do that, the more space and resources they take up for our native wildlife." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body "unsubscribe frambors" (the subject is ignored). To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body "unsubscribe frambors" (the subject is ignored).
