Posted on 05/11/2021 1:53:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Two cygnets later recovered by Orlando police
Onlookers watched in disbelief as a man batted away a mother and father swan at Lake Eola, grabbed their recently hatched babies and tossed them into a red cooler, according to witnesses and video of the incident.
Frank Howard said he and his fiancé were at Lake Eola Park Sunday evening admiring the swan family with two babies, known as cygnets, when a man approached carrying a red cooler. The man, wearing athletic wear and sneakers, told Howard he worked for “Lake Eola Park” and was taking the cygnets to protect them from wildlife.
“He reached down and grabbed one, and the mom started going crazy and he hit the mom with the cooler,” Howard said. “He was saying, ‘Yeah, we rescue them all the time. I’ve done this many times, look at my arms are all scratched up from the fathers attacking me.’”
Howard said they continued to ask him questions but thought he was legitimately trying to protect the young wildlife. The man even told Howard to take pictures before he took the cygnets.
Howard said his fiancé has been crying ever since.
“The mother looks so sad now because she don’t have her baby and they were so cute, adorable,” Howard said. “We’re sad because we didn’t think, we like to believe in humanity in people and not everybody is bad, so we were hoping the guy was good, he was really doing it for a reason. But after he took them, we realized nothing made sense.”
Video captured by Howard showed the man used the small cooler to bat at the angry swans as he walked into their nest where three unhatched eggs also remained. The man then plucked the fluffy gray-and-white cygnets from the nest, tossing them into the cooler and shutting the lid, according to the video.
One of the swans, angry at the theft, continued to hiss at the man and followed him. In response, he hit the swan in the face with the cooler now containing the baby swans, video shows.
Onlookers were yelling at the man to stop but Howard and his girlfriend, believing his story, told them the man was trying to protect the swans.
“They won’t be here tomorrow. They’re OK. They will be dead tomorrow, I know that. I work for Lake Eola,” he said to the crowd. “Trust me, I’ve done this time and time again.”
Howard said the man did not have any protective gear nor tools nor assistance.
On Monday, after calling the Lake Eola Park ranger, the couple learned there is no legitimate swan rescue that removes baby swans from nests. Howard said he reported the incident to the Orlando Police Department and learned a detective is investigating the possible theft.
As of Monday evening, the two cygnets had been located and recovered by Orlando police detectives.
Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan said every November, swan “docents” collect the swans, clean them or treat them if necessary, and return them to the park.
There is a volunteer group called the Swan Habitat Field Team dedicated to keeping an eye on the 52 swans that call Lake Eola home. They monitor everything from nesting conditions to health.
Other than the volunteer group, Sheehan said no one should ever touch a swan at Lake Eola.
/Illegal cygnet ring ping?
:) Clever.
“Typical lazy reporting. Anyone else wondering how the cygnets were recovered, and why no arrests were made?”
Yes.
It makes me think there’s more to the story.
I have rare moments when I’m not entirely stupid.
:D
Its Heineken Man...
Putting birds in a cooler instead of some type of pet/animal transport? No tools of the trade to control the adult swans? Batting at the adult swans with the cooler?
Everything about this guy says "poacher/thief." Nothing says "official."
Good one!!
Looking at that picture again, the guy looks like Dr. Fauci. Probably capturing cygnets for the Chi-coms to develop a new virus. Can we round him up now?
Yeah, I doubt the meat was the motive anyway.
I was wondering what would happen to him if he did this in England. All swans are still property of the Crown. I certainly wouldn’t try it with Henry VIII on the throne.
My supposed 11th Great-Grandfather Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre, was hung at Tyburn in 1541 while Henry VIII was still Monarch. Fiennes, and a bunch of other fellows had decided one night to poach on the land of an English politician. While on their escapade, they ran into the landowner's gamekeepers, and one of those gamekeepers was fatally wounded in the altercation. He was also a member of the jury that convicted Anne Boleyn.
I say he's my "supposed" Great-Grandfather, because you're relying on other people's hints on Ancestry.com, so it's anybody's guess if it's true or not.
“… he should have waited until they were fully grown...”
”get his piece of the swan pie...a delicacy in Medieval times.”
Roasted with plum sauce. Yum!
Poorly written story...
5 candles?
Not even a good poacher.
That threw me for a second. I just finished watching an episode of “Bonanza” that was called “Five Candles.” Yeah. Seems odd. That may even have been the Jewish cemetery. I recall a different episode where she had been denied burial in the Jewish cemetery because they found out she had a tattoo.
Brutal.
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