due to direct conflicts with of What is the legal conservation concern. What is the status of Mute Michigan: Michigan has the largest Indiana DNR ? mute population in the US. doing about Mute The Michigan Natural Resources Commission recently gave the Swans? Federal protection for the exotic mute Michigan DNR authority to reduce swan was removed by the Migratory mute swans to prevent interference On private property and public Treaty Reform Act in 2004. This with native species (including but not occurred because mute swans are not freshwater lakes, the DNR will issue limited to threatened and endangered free permits to lake associations and native. Native tundra and trumpeter species) and to protect public health, swans remain protected. landowners to take adult mute swans safety and welfare. and/or to destroy nests. In addition, the DNR is taking measures to control In Indiana, mute swans are currently Ohio: Personnel from Ohio DNR have mute swans on state-owned properties. protected, so a permit is required to lethally removed 50-60 mute swans possess a live or to kill one. per year from public lands in northern Live must be pinioned (made Ohio for the past several years. Private flightless) and kept in an enclosure that land owners are also issued permits to pre vents their escape into the wild. remove mute swans. In addition, egg How can I get addling occurs on many of the large marinas in northern Ohio. more information? Photo: J. Mosesso/NBII

What do other Wisconsin: Wisconsin has an For more information on mute states do to control aggressive removal policy, supported swans, contact your local district by such groups as the state’s water- wildlife biologist (www.in.gov/dnr/ There are three swan Mute Swans? fowlers, the Izaak Walton League, fishwild/2716.htm). and Wisconsin Audubon. Their policy species in Indiana, two of Many states enforce removal policies is statewide elimination, including which are native. shooting where feasible and egg for mute swans. Below are a few The mute swan, an alien specific examples. addling where public sensitivity or safety preclude shooting. They also species introduced from Maryland: Personnel from issue permits to private landowners Europe, is now a Maryland’s DNR have lethally for swan removal. There are currently removed hundreds of mute swans about 600 free-flying mute swans resident in Indiana. from Chesapeake Bay, due largely to in Wisconsin, and these aggressive concerns regarding the removal of policies have slowed, but not stopped, 2011, Indiana Department of Natural aquatic plants by the swans, as well as the population growth. Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife What is a swan? How do I tell Mute What’s so bad

Swans in are large, Swans from native about Mute white birds that are closely related swans? Swans? to geese and . They eat mostly plants but will also eat snails and Mute Swans Are Not Native. other aquatic invertebrates. Mute swans are native to Europe and , and were released in the US as an ornamental species. Native plants Photo: Adrian Pingstone and are not adapted to mute Mute Swans Are Aggressive. What swans are in swans. Mute Trumpeter Tundra Mute swans are known to attack other Indiana? Mute Swans Damage Native animals, including ducks, geese and Graphic: The Society Ecosystems. other birds. During the nesting season, Mute swans require eight pounds of they will also come out of the water Only the mute swan breeds in Indiana. The Mute Swan: aquatic plants for food every day, and onto land to drive off people or pets However, two other native species of • Is the only swan with an destroy much more while feeding. that enter their territories. They can be swan migrate through and/or spend orange bill These plants would normally be dangerous to the elderly or children. the winter in Indiana. • Is the only swan likely to be in available for native waterfowl, such as areas frequented by people The , the smallest swan migrating ducks, and other wildlife. • Is the only swan in Indiana in to occur in Indiana, breeds in Arctic They destroy both underwater plants summer areas in Canada and Alaska. They and plants at the water’s edge, so they • Is the only swan that usually But don’t Mute are fairly common in Indiana in the affect both food supplies and cover carries its neck in a strongly- fall and winter as they pass through for native species. They tend to select Swans keep geese curved S-shape while swimming to their wintering areas, such as the higher-quality native plants, leaving Chesapeake Bay. There is limited aquatic weeds to expand in the area. away? Native Swans: on tundra swans in many • Have solid black bills, often Native fish and other aquatic animals states. No. Mute swans may keep a single with a small yellow area near require aquatic plants as nursery pair of geese off of a pond for a short The trumpeter swan, the largest North the eye habitat that provides cover for their time, but geese often occur on the American swan, breeds in Canada • Are unlikely to be in heavily young. These aquatic plants are also same bodies of water as mute swans. and many northern states, including inhabited areas habitat for invertebrates that serve as Furthermore, mute swans come with Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio. It has • Spend the summer outside of food for fish, birds, and other animals. their own problems. They are larger the smallest population of the native Indiana Reduction in these native plants can and more aggressive than Canada swans, but it is recovering very well. • Usually swim with their necks cause population declines in fish and geese, and they cause more environ- Trumpeters are not hunted in the US. straight or only slightly curved other wildlife. mental damage than Canada geese.