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Fishermen Are Hurting Park Slope's Swans
By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 15, 2009
Modified Dec 15, 2009
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 15, 2009
Modified Dec 15, 2009
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Prospect Park swans have already fought against each other — now they're fighting against fishermen.
At least two of the swans that live in the park's 60-acre lake have been injured by fishermen, according to The Brooklyn Paper. One lived for months with a hook through its beak (the hook has since been extracted), and another apparently swallowed a hook and line that is now protruding from its chest. Then there's "Beaky," the disfigured goose that lost half of its beak, perhaps after getting tangled in fishing lines in the lake.
Anne-Katrin Titze and Ed Bahlman — the swans' de facto spokespeople — say careless fisherman are to blame. "If it’s so upsetting for us, how do these animals feel?" said Bahlman, who is urging officials to educate and punish rule-breaking fishermen. But a representative from the Prospect Park Alliance told the paper that added enforcement isn't likely. "The lake has more garbage than we like," he said. "There just aren't enough [enforcement officers] on the entire 60-acre watercourse to make sure people are doing what they should."
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