Warning!!!
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| The
following gallery contains content that shows a
cygnet that was killed and could be shocking to
children or sensitive people. If you are easily
sensitive to this type of material, do not
proceed further to view this gallery. |
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The clutch started with
seven eggs.
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| The
weekend before the first cygnet hatched, two eggs were
taken from the nest. The other eggs were left intact
without any cracks, scratches or any other signs of a
struggle. |
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| Several
days later, another egg mysteriously disappears from the
nest with no signs of a struggle. The remaining four eggs
were still intact. |
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| A
couple of days later, the first cygnet hatches and there
are still three eggs in the nest with him. |
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| The
next day, the second cygnet hatches. There are still two
eggs in the nest. |
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| The
third cygnet hatches, but the other egg is missing. What
predator would take an egg when there are at least two
live cygnets in the nest that would be much easier to
grab and eat without having to deal with the egg shell? |
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| The
next horrifying morning, the pen is no longer in the nest
but is instead pensively wading off a nearby shore with
two cygnets. I searched the area and this is what I found.
No teeth wounds were apparent on the cygnet. A stick had
ruffled its downy fur behind its head when it lay on the
ground dead. There was blood running out of the cygnets
nose and on a nearby stick. |
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| What
kind of predator kills a cygnet, lifts it twenty feet
from the nest without disturbing anything on the ground,
without any teeth marks on the cygnet, and just leaves it
lying in the brush next to a plastic bag lying on top of
the brush without eating it? |
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| Who
would do this horrible thing to this innocent creature? |
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| The
last two cygnets were taken from their parents by a man.
They were later located and recovered by the CT DEP. They
could not be returned to their parents because there were
concerns that the parents might drown their own offspring
because of their week long captivity among humans. |
