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Swans no longer protected

The swan song could be coming soon for the mute swan, an aggressive, non-native waterfowl that some bird experts say has wreaked havoc on wetlands across Wisconsin and is expanding its population at an alarming rate.

A federal appeals court recently removed mute swans from protected status, allowing the state Department of Natural Resources to act on a plan to begin shooting the birds later this month in southeast Wisconsin.

(Wildlife ecology professor emeritus Stan Temple is quoted.)