Swan ‘delicacy’ behind bid to net iconic birds

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

An attempt by two men to net two adult swans in the dead of night has prompted a call for members of the public to look out for suspicious activity in the Claddagh Quay area.

The appeal was issued by the Galway and Claddagh Swan Rescue group after a local man confronted two men when he came upon them at the world-renowned slipway near the Galway Rovers clubhouse in the early hours.

The men had netted the swans and were about to remove them from the area when the local man came across them by chance in the early hours.

“They had two swans in a net,” said Suzanne Divilly of Galway and Claddagh Swan Rescue. “The man ran and confronted them before they ran from the scene.”

Members of the group believe that the men may have intended to eat the swans after taking them from the water near the mouth of the River Corrib.

“People do eat them. That’s the only reason we can think of as to why they would have attempted to net them at that time of the morning.”

Gardai are investigating last week’s incident, although only a partial registration was noted by a witness after the two men fled from the scene.

The swans are seen as an iconic image of the city.

Swan meat is seen as a delicacy in some countries and is sold on international markets, but taking swans from the waterways in Ireland is illegal as they are a protected species.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.