WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Animal protection groups were joyful Thursday over an agreement with Washington to prevent the killing of thousands of mute swans across the nation.
The Fund for Animals and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service jointly submitted the agreement to District Judge Emmet Sullivan for his approval.
Under the agreement, the federal agency will withdraw all permits to kill thousands of mute swans nationwide, as well as an environmental impact statement that supported the swan-killing program. In return, The Fund for Animals will drop its lawsuit.
The swans had been blamed by some companies for a reduction in submerged aquatic vegetation in Chesapeake Bay. But Sullivan, in granting a preliminary injunction, noted the swans consume only a small fraction of such vegetation, which is affected more severely by industrial pollution.
Mute swans are large birds, measuring up to about 62 inches with a wingspan of up to eight feet. As their name implies, mute swans are usually silent. Their plumage is white and they are mainly distinguished from North American swans by a knob at the base of their upper bill.
