Originally published at: Teens charged with killing and eating swan | Boing Boing
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Color me shocked they actually ATE it vs just killing it for fun. Still, don’t kill swans.
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They are lucky they weren’t in the UK, where, as I understand, they could be executed for treason.
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That’s not true, but it stops people trying it.
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I wonder if there is more to the story. Did they do it on a lark? Were they hungry? Curious about the taste? Scouts trying to earn a merit badge?
I ask because there was a situation in my parents’ neighborhood where a neighbor wound up shooting and eating crows and Canadian geese. A couple of those neighbors got arrest and the whole family was evicted for discharging a firearm in a residential neighborhood, but they were doing it because they were hungry and unable to afford meat, and there were these plump birds just sitting there…
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I RTFA - “but Faye won’t return to the pond. She was given to a relative to cook.” So I guess the teens didn’t know how to cook and clean game (which isn’t a common skill), but a relative did.
It used to be common in the US and is still common in poorer countries to kill and cook wildlife for sustenance: squirrels, rabbits, birds, etc. I know my grandparents did during The Depression. (Not that a pond swan like that is really “wildlife”, and don’t do it today with out the proper permits and seasons.)
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I really want to know the motivation. Did they think it was a goose?
(and yes, I believe some USians to be this uneducated)
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I’d like to know more about the teens that did it. While Manlius isn’t a bad place to live, about 2% of the people there live in poverty. My feelings on the killing and consuming of the swan certainly depend on if they were poor and hungry, versus just wealthy and entitled.
That they gave it to another family member to clean and cook… it really makes me wonder.
Mute swans are technically considered an invasive species (Swan song out of tune | AP News)
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This is a really strange story. Add me to the list people wanting to know the motivation. If it was just shooting a swan, that’d be easy to write off as a drunken teen prank, a dare, or whatever. But to actually eat it is a whole other thing. Ever cleaned a bird for eating? It’s a lot of work and very messy. You also kinda have to know what you’re doing. Where did they cook it? At someone’s house? Over a campfire? So many questions.
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Another story with the press conference says family and freinds consumed the swan. Those people believed it was a very large duck. During the press conference a reporter asked if they were living in poverty and they were just trying to eat. The answer was no, they were hunting and they believed they had got a very large duck, one of the teens had a hunting license.
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Dammit, I didn’t actually want to be correct about that. 
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Be nice. America provides ample opportunities to learn about gentrification(just not always from the perspective you’d prefer); and a swan is a goose gentrified.
When the judge was done ruling, he asked the defendant, out of curiosity, how it tasted.
“Somewhere between Spotted Owl and California Condor.”
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My uncle was a hunter and a fisher.
Sometimes he would barge into our house with his latest catch.
That he insisted cleaning himself, flinging scales or feathers everywhere, to be still found weeks after his visit.
My mother was ecstatic…not.
Semi-gory details under the spoiler.
Once he brought a hare, but left early.
A friend of mine still remember “fondly” when he casually dropped by, I opened the door wearing a blood stained apron and asked him to help me with the skinning (which consisted in one person holding the flesh and the other pulling away the skin in tug of war style).
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To this point — I don’t think anyone would have been overly upset if they’d killed and consumed a Canada Goose. It just becomes a problem when it’s an icon of literature and the ballet, and someone named it.
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Many many years ago I worked in a very small, as in 5 employees, sewing shop. The owner got the bright idea of giving everyone a turkey for Christmas (in addition to very generous cash gifts).
But, he thought it would be fun to get live turkeys and butcher them himself. He did know what he was doing.
The first turkey was fun for him, the next 6, not so much. He got it done but it was serious work. I did not stick around to help or watch.
Danny Kaye made swans loveable.
The arrest video of one of the culprits was posted over on Reddit. The accused is clearly not remorseful.
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Did you read the article? The bird in question was not a lark, but a swan.
(Sorry/not sorry.) 
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