Crisis for Wild Swans (sad and shocking)

[Char-x]

This isn't in the news, but it is news in Manningtree in the East Anglian of the UK and I heard about it from a relative who lives there.

In Manningtree they have a sea where the boats used to come in with supplies etc however now-a-days it is more known to have many wild swans there and tourists come from all over to see them and feed them etc.
Lately however they have had many problems thrown their way.

Firstly the town has no idea what to do about the fact that when some of the boats come in the swans are constantly getting trapped and literally crushed to death between walls and boats. My grandad saw this happen and at 79 he knew it was too late to save the swan and it was having a tortourous death, finding someone he knew had a shotgun, he told them to shoot it right out.

The worst problem facing the swans however is the youths. Manningtree has always been known as a small quiet village but it is slowely getting more council estates and crime is getting worse.

Not too long ago it was heard (and seen by many people too scared to say anything to the police) that a baby swan had been chased by a large group into vegetation so high it couldnt escape. They then beat the swan with various "weapons" and left it to die, luckerily someone was at hand to ring the local rescue and it was "saved", by having its broken and bloody wing amputated - it will never be allowed back into the wild again.

As shocking as that was, another story like this came about a few days later. A smaller group of youths had been able to get hold a swon, grab its neck and keep it underwater until it had drowned.

I really feel so sick when I hear about things like this. I can't even begin to imagine what is going through their heads when they do things like this. If they can do something so tortuous to something so innocent then imagine what they could do to someone that says something to trigger it...its a scary thought. Makes me sick to the stomach.

I was talking to my friend about this and he said that in his area there is a boating lake and he was there with his mates and he saw a bunch of the local thugs were chasing ducks - he found it amusing thats all they could do with their time - until he heard the screeching of a duck and saw a duck with a screwdriver in its back drowning. It makes me wonder what is happened to society....its so worrying.

[Maisiepaisie]

All that is really awful. The problem is that even though these actions would be considered unlawful, it just isn't taken seriously enough by the authorities. We need much harsher penalties for animal cruelty and hopefully that would make these sickos think twice.

[diane]

In the next town over a nicer cemetary has a beautiful man made pond that houses a few swans. Well about a year ago they found both of the swans killed and somebody had stolen their eggs. Comes to find out that this man hired some kids to steal the eggs becuase his wife wanted a swan. Stupid reasoning, there would have been alot better ways to acquire a swan. The authorities did find the eggs and they all hatched fine. Thankfully.

[naturegal592]

I was playing with my daughter by the lake last year and say a teenage boy and what I assume to be his younger sister and her friend chasing a very young family of ducks and throwing rocks at them. I made sure he knew I say him, picked up my cell phone and made a call mentioning 911. It was a friend that I called but he stopped and I kept an eye on him until HE left. I wasn't going anywhere until I knew they were safe. If he would have started up again I would have called the police. I think to many people just turn there heads.

[Char-x]

True, I wouldnt be too scared of any thugs to atleast call the police although I understand why some elderly locals didn't but still...I would rather have to face them than the guilt of just letting it happen. I remember when I was about 10, even then I was up London and this boy about the same age chasing pigeons and I shouted at him really loud..and he soon stopped so I guess its in my instinct to stand up for them and I was a shy child! :L

[muffin]

Be very careful, however angry you are, you shouldn't intervene because these thugs usually won't think twice about doing the same or worse to you. In the last two weeks I have read about a young couple being kicked and stamped to death in a public park by a group of youths merely because they were dressed like 'rockers', whilst others were around watching and calling police. The girl was kicked as she cradled her boyfriend's head in her arms.

Then I read about a dog walker who was attcked by kids who kicked his dog to death. Last year yobs kicked a puppy to death, and other kids broke into a mausoleum and kicked the head of the body inside around like a football. Meanwhile a man has received a prison sentence for kicking and stamping on his dog, whilst holding a child under his arm, then bundling the dog into the car boot and driving off. Eleven separate calls were made to the SSPCA, but no-one intervened. Witnesses did come forward however, unusually, and the new Animal Welfare Act means he got a three-month prison sentence. All the events in this paragraph happened in Edinburgh, where Harry Potter was written. It just shows you. I don't feel safe enough to go out alone, even in day time.

I am so sick of living in this youth yob culture, where kids run around in tribes and intimidate and hurt others just for kicks. It makes me want to emigrate. I am so fed up. I blame human rights legislation, the welfare state and poor parenting. I read a newspaper article last week about three generations of the same family, ie grandma, kids and their kids, ten in total, and none of them worked, and the household get £32,000 in benefits a year. That's a lot, considering someone working an a supermarket full-time for example will only get about £12,000, oh, and the benefits family were having their house paid for by the council, and had sky tv (well they need to be able to relax), and had the cheek to complain they needed a 10-bedroom house to fit them all in. These kids don't see the point of going to work, because it's boring, and they actually get more on benefits than they would by going out to work. I hate the fact that an increasingly small proportion of the British population are paying higher and higher taxes to support smack addicts and wasters, whilst pensioners are so poor they have to choose between eating properly and heating their home.

It hurts to be poor in America, and it's harder to escape poverty, and I wouldn't want that here, but we've gone too far in the UK. I'm all for supporting those who need it, but when you've got gangs of kids who can't be touched by police (human rights means police powers are ridiculously limited here), and these kids will claim off of the state all their lives, it's disgusting. People actually feel they have a right to be supported by the state! The sad thing is that there are a lot of good people living on council estates, and the minority of 'bad apples' spoil it for everyone and drag local kids along with them. As for parents who say 'oh, I can't control my kids'..spare me.

Apologies for the rant, I'm just so fed up of 'neds' as they are called in Scotland. What's the English equivalent anyone? Does this sort of stuff happen in the USA and Canada?

[fourboys4now]

If I saw something like an animal being attacked, I think I would immediately react, instead of thinking about if I would be in danger. It just makes me so angry thinking of a defenseless animal being attacked or tortured. I agree that there should be stiffer sentences in animal cruelty cases. More parents out there need to raise their children to treat animals with the respect they deserve.

[bunnys n pigs]

Char, I can always trust you to stick up for the animals and be the first to spread the word. thanks

[Sammy and Peanut]

Who in their right mind would be so cruel??? I don't think they'd like it if someone grabbed them by their neck and stuffed them underwater until they died. People should really take the saying to mind, "Think before you act."

[piggly wiggly]

Muffin, we have the exact same thing here as you are describing. The family generation situation, the criminal youth act, which is a joke. It protects the identity of anyone arrested under the age of 18. The youth jail is a luxury camp in my mind. The time in jail if any that a youth gets is a complete joke. Right now animal control is warning people to keep their cats indoors (which they should anyway) because someone is torturing them. For the third year in a row we are warned not to walk our dogs in a certain park, because someone is leaving meat with rat poison in it and many dogs have been poisioned and a few have died. This world is getting ridiculous, and I sm sffraid to leave my house. My kids can't do anything a child should be able to do, like ride their bike with friends, I am too affraid.

[muffin]

You have to question the logic of a system that provides prison conditions which are nicer than home. No wonder so many kids in the UK don't mind going to jail. They get to see all their friends again. Don't get me started. American jails seem tougher, well they must be tougher than here.

The fact that prisons here are overflowing is to me clear evidence that they don't act as a deterrent. Kids go to prison here and they get three meals a day made for them, a warm bed, their own space, TV, recreation facilities. No wonder it's not that bad in their view. I'm pretty sure they get pocket money for cigarettes too. Bring back chain gangs, make them earn their keep I say.

I sympathise for those in America, because crime must be worse because there is more real poverty. People here genuinely don't realise how lucky they are. Can anyone in America or Canada reading this imagine not having to pay to see a doctor or go to the hospital?

[PapuaNewGuinea]

Surely the police are able to do something since Swans are protected? There can't be that many youths as to not distinguish the culprits.
It's very sad though, swans are lovely animals. I don't understand how people can be so cruel.

[piggly wiggly]

Muffin, we don't have to pay to go to the hospital or see a Doctor in Canada either, our healthcare is covered by our taxes. Canada is run very much the same as Britain. We are a Monarchy here aswell, we have a Prime minister, and members of parliament. The Queen visits every now and again, she is also the Queen of Canada, I knpow their is a more proffesional way of explaining it, but I don't know it... My family is United empire Loyalists, my family faught in the rebellion, but stayed loyal to the Queen, so now we get the tiltle of U.E.L, after our name. Hope you know what I am speaking of, or I just sound like a fool...Anyway, our system is the same here, our youth jails are exactly what you describe, we don't need to pay to see the doctor, our justice system is a joke, a life sentence here is 25 years, but you only have to serve a third, but get out at 10 years served, that's what you get for murder, 10 stinkin years. A bail amount you only have to pay 10%, so a $5000 bail, you only pay $500, what a deterant, please. There is just too much to complain about with our system, the whole Goverment is a joke.

[Char-x]

Originally Posted by PapuaNewGuinea

Surely the police are able to do something since Swans are protected? There can't be that many youths as to not distinguish the culprits.
It's very sad though, swans are lovely animals. I don't understand how people can be so cruel.

In Essex there are literally thousands of youths but in Manningtree there aren't THAT many granted but its not that people can't tell the police its that they won't in the fear someone will come and set their house a light or do something similer to them...and it would happen tbh.

[muffin]

That's what frightens me, there just don't seem to be the mental barriers in people's heads anymore. These kids would set fire to a house and think 'yeah, that'll teach them to grass me up'. No more thought involved.

Apologies Piggly Wiggly, I didn't realise. Well you'll be as hopping mad as I am then! I guess I'll have to be content to imagine that all my years of hard work and high taxes paid throughout my long life ahead will go to help people who need it, not scrounging smack-heads who feel the state ought to support them because work is an effort and boring. My money can go to help old needy people who have worked hard all their lives instead. One can but dream.

[piggly wiggly]

No need to apologise muffin.
Are swans a protected secies anywhere? Like here you can get in big trouble if you injure a Canadian goose. Well not that big of trouble since our animal cruelty laws are basically non existint. I am just wondering if the swan is a national bird anywhere.