3 Teenagers Arrested For Killing & Eating New York Village’s Prized Swan

Three Arrested After Allegedly Killing & Eating New York Village’s Prized Swan

Three teenagers have been arrested after they allegedly stole a swan prized by its community in upstate New York before killing and eating the beloved bird over the Memorial Day weekend, officials said.

Police in Manlius, a southeast suburb of Syracuse, first sounded the alarm earlier this week after Faye, one of the village’s most iconic residents, and four of her baby swans, known as cygnets, were reported missing after a Memorial Day parade.

“Unfortunately, the investigation led to the discovery that Faye had been killed over the weekend,” the Town of Malnius Police Department said in an update Tuesday. Not only was the swan slain, but she was later eaten by the teenagers and “family,” Manlius police Sgt. Ken Hatter said at a news conference.

 

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He said the teens had snuck into the pond area “in the middle of the night” and pounced on the bird as she was nesting. “She wasn’t fighting back and they were able to capture her,” he said, adding that the swan was killed at the pond.

Hatter said the teenagers had initially believed the swan was “just a very large duck.” After killing the creature, the teens brought the bird’s remains back to the house of one of their aunts, where the swan was cooked, Hatter said in separate comments, according to The Associated Press.

The four cygnets were found safe and are now in the care of a biologist tasked with overseeing the health and wellbeing of Manlius’ swans, Hatter said during the news conference. The arrests of three teenagers in the alleged swan slaying came after a concerned citizen spotted two baby swans in a store in nearby Salina and called authorities, Hatter said.

One of the suspects, a juvenile who was working at the store, confessed to having taken the birds along with two other teenagers, he said. The suspect said they planned to raise the birds as pets and had no plans to eat them.