3 Teens Killed and Ate a New York Village’s Beloved Swan, Police Say
Swans have long held sway in Manlius, an upstate New York village where the web-footed creatures have lived for more than a century. Residents had particular affection for Faye, a white long-necked bird who, for more than a decade, had been a fixture at a fenced-in pond owned by the village.
And so people reacted with shock this week when the authorities announced that over the weekend three teenagers had stolen Faye in the middle of the night, killed her and then eaten her.
“They prepared a feast,” Sgt. Ken Hatter of the Manlius Police Department said the teenagers had told the police. They “did not have any idea of the significance the swans had on this community,” or that the swans are owned by the village, the sergeant said.
“They believed that it was just a very large duck,” he said. “They did not know it was a swan, and they did not know it was not a wild animal.”
Source: The New York Times
