Three upstate New York teens killed a beloved mother swan, cooked it for dinner and kidnapped its four babies — after mistaking it for a duck at a protected local pond, police said.
Faye the swan was allegedly turned into dinner by the youngsters on Memorial Day in Manlius — a village of 4,600 people in the suburbs of Syracuse, which is home to a pond where generations of town-owned swans have lived since 1905.
Cops said Wednesday that the teens — three friends, ages 16, 17 and 18 — thought Faye was a duck before slaughtering her for their meal.
“They did not know that it was a swan, and they did not know that it was not a wild animal, that it was actually owned by the Village of Manlius,” Manlius Police Sgt. Ken Hatter said.
All three suspects — including the eldest, who was identified as Eman Hussan of Syracuse — were charged with felony grand larceny and criminal mischief, as well as misdemeanor conspiracy and criminal trespass, reported CNY Central.
According to the cops, the suspects were trying to go “hunting,” when they jumped a fence surrounding the Manlius Swan Pond between midnight and 3 a.m. Monday and killed Faye while she was nesting.
After killing Faye, the clueless youths then took her carcas to one of their homes, where they cooked and ate it.
The teens also grabbed Faye’s four babies — known as cygnets — planning to keep them as pets.
Police said in a statement on Facebook that multiple tips from citizen led them to the location of two of the missing cygnets at a business at the Shop City Plaza in Salina, New York.
The remining two cygents were later recovered at a private home in Syracuse.
Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall said that all four baby swans, which are about 4 weeks old, are now in the care of a biologist who looks after the health of the town’s swans.
Faye’s mate, Manny, was was not harmed in the attack. He was pictured swimming alone in the pond Tuesday.
He will be removed from the water and relocated before his and Faye’s cygnets are put back in the pond.
Whorrall explained that because swans mate for life, Manny could become “combative” if he encounters the young swans.
