Faye the mute swan was a regional celebrity. She and her mate, Manny, were beloved in the upstate New York town of Manlius, for their graceful beauty.
They and their predecessors have been town mascots since swans were first introduced to the town in 1905.
“Central New York loves Manny and Faye,” WSYR-TV in nearby Syracuse declared last year. “You can see this dynamic duo in the Manlius Swan Pond off Fayette Street near the village offices.”
At least, you could until Memorial Day weekend, when Faye’s absence was noticed sometime after the annual parade.
Residents notified police, who reviewed video footage for clues, according to CNYCentral. They discovered Faye’s four recently hatched offspring, known as cygnets, were also missing.
On Wednesday, Manlius police delivered some good news and some bad news at a news conference, WSYR reported.
The good news was that the four cygnets had been recovered — two at a local shopping center and two at a nearby home.
The bad news was very bad indeed: Faye, police said, had been butchered and eaten.
Say what?
Was this a victimless crime?
Yes: 11% (98 Votes)
No: 89% (772 Votes)
That’s correct, the Manlius police spokesman confirmed: While the rest of the community was grilling burgers and hot dogs for Memorial Day, someone was eating the town mascot.
“Three suspects — teens that are neighborhood friends and went to high school together — hopped the Manlius Swan Pond fence between midnight and 3 a.m., Saturday into Sunday,” the report said.
Police Sgt. Ken Hatter told reporters that Faye didn’t struggle or fight back because she was nesting.
The teens decapitated her with a knife and then took her carcass home, where she was cooked and consumed, Hatter said.
The suspects — ages 18, 17 and 16 — pleaded ignorance.
“They believed it was just a very large duck,” Hatter said. “They did not know it was a swan.”
Really? So we’ve got three high schoolers unable to identify a swan?
The police hinted the teens are not native to the U.S., referring vaguely to their “cultural beliefs” regarding the waterfowl dinner.
This story makes more sense once one understands that the migrants killed a swan at a fenced-in pond that is basically a small zoo.
They jumped the fence at 3:00 AM to kill the swan. It’s inconceivable to me that they didn’t know what they were doing. https://t.co/xTYmzVvl1i pic.twitter.com/xozSuOLet2
— Imperator Philippus Arabus (@PhilippusArabus) June 1, 2023
OK, so maybe they came from a country such as Venezuela, where not too many years ago residents were slaughtering their zoo animals to eat because the citizens were starving. Maybe that would explain their actions, right?
But no, it turns out that wasn’t the reason.
“It wasn’t because they were lacking in food,” Hatter said, according to The New York Times. “They were hunting.”
The young “hunters” told police they thought Faye was a wild animal and they were unaware it belonged to the village.
“They did not have any idea of the significance that the swans had on this community,” Hatter said, according to The Syracuse Post-Standard.
Yeah, right. So all three of them somehow missed the “Welcome to Manlius” banners around town featuring pictures of a swan? That’s a little bit hard to believe, to say the least.
“If you drive through the village, you’ll see the swan emblems and signs and banners everywhere,” Mayor Paul Whorrall told the Times.
Eman Hussan, 18, of Syracuse, and the two juveniles — unnamed because they are minors — were charged with two felonies, third-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal mischief, as well as two misdemeanors: fifth-degree conspiracy and third-degree criminal trespass, the Post-Standard reported.
The Department of Environmental Conservation may bring additional charges.
One thing that irked many observers was the expression on one suspect’s face as he was taken into custody.
I hope he gets a stiff enough sentence to permanently wipe that smile off his face.
— Idrees Ahmad (@im_PULSE) June 1, 2023
As the Times described it, “Mr. Hussen … appeared to smile as he was being led to a police vehicle in handcuffs.”
“Appeared to smile” is a curious understatement for a young man who was wearing an ear-to-ear grin, evidently basking in his 15 minutes of fame.
Some have expressed doubt that the accused poachers will get anything more than a slap on the wrist. Others are calling for maximum jail sentences. At least one group has set up a petition at AnimalVictory.org demanding justice for Faye.
#Faye the #swan should be with her mate teaching their babies how to swim.
But she was mutilated in front of her family one night. Please join me to demand her killer be jailed for the max possible time.https://t.co/cHJKW5bRAx— Phaedra (@PhaedraXTeddy) June 2, 2023
It’s hard to argue with them. Wherever these young men hail from, they surely knew that the public in general — and police in particular — would have a problem with what they were doing.
Even if these teens are newcomers to the United States and have never seen or heard of a swan, there’s not a country in the world where someone jumping a fence at 3 a.m. is assumed to be an honest, upstanding citizen with good intentions.
Ideally, these young men would get a fair hearing and suitable punishment, if found guilty, in which case they could potentially come away with a new respect for U.S. laws and customs.
On the other hand, officials could excuse the crime on the basis of the alleged perpetrators’ youth and inexperience with local laws and customs, which would send a message to both law-abiding citizens and would-be “hunters.”
It will be interesting to see which scenario plays out.
Either way, Manny the swan will be gliding alone on Swan Pond for the foreseeable future, a reminder that things have changed in the town of Manlius — and perhaps the U.S. as a whole — forever.
