WASHTENAW COUNTY (WWJ) -- Residents in a Washtenaw County township are getting help from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with the removal of invasive swans that have a tendency to attack humans.
Officials in Webster Township passed a resolution to implement a mute swan culling program on Base Line Lake.
These mute swans, an invasive species, are marked by their knobbed orange and black bills and "S" curved necks. The birds eat everything in their path --even uprooting wetland plants that shelter native fish. They also chase native birds from their nests.
State officials have also received reports of mute swan attacks on people in boats and on shore every year.
This resolution will allow landowners to seek permits to remove the swans through unfavorable techniques such as shooting them in the head and destroying their eggs by covering them with corn oil. Animal rights activists decried similar resolutions in other lake areas last summer.
