“They make themselves look huge”

“I knew there would be a lot of passionate defenders of swans, but we can’t base our management policies just on the aesthetics of a bird when it has such negative impacts,” said Bryan Swift, the conservation agency’s statewide waterfowl specialist."

Few knew about the proposal to eradicate mute swans. Those who did expressed shock and drew an analogy with New York’s immigrant population.

“If they were born here, they should be considered native by now,” said Michael Vangi of Bayside, Queens, whose father was born in Italy and who stopped near the bay for lunch. A co-worker, Joseph LoRe, agreed. “I’m not an environmentalist, but that seems kind of messed up,” he said, referring to the extermination plan. “Is that how we treat immigrants?”

NYT / Region - Click read more below for a 'Raising Mute Swans' video