Three teenagers were charged after they killed a beloved town swan, stole its chicks, then cooked and ate the swan.
Eman Hussan, 18, and two other teenagers ages 17 and 16 reportedly jumped over the fence of the Swan Pond in Manlius, New York, after midnight on Sunday and held Faye, the town swan who was nesting, down until the swan died. They then took Faye’s four cygnets with them to one of their residences, where the family cooked and ate Faye. The teenagers said they planned to raise the cygnets as pets.
Teenager Eman Hussan and 2 friends arrested in Syracuse, NY area for killing and eating the town swan and stealing her 4 babiespic.twitter.com/aUuK8JpANa
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 31, 2023
“They believed it was just a very large duck. 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. “Faye was killed at the pond.”
Hetter acknowledged the three teenagers were all friends and attended high school together.
“I asked them specifically, the two juveniles, what they were going to do with the cygnets if they wanted to raise them: ‘Were you going to raise them to later consume them?’ And they said, ‘No, we wanted to raise them,” Hatter added. He noted that video of the incident did exist.
Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall said of the biologist who had cared for Faye since 2007 and is now caring for the cygnets and their father, “Manny,” “Right now he’s taking care of the four cygnets. He will take care of those probably for another six weeks because they’re not ready to be put back in the pond yet to live on their own. At that point, we will probably remove Manny because of the significance that they do mate forever and losing Faye, Manny can become combative.”
The teenagers were charged with grand larceny in the third degree, a class D felony, criminal mischief in the second degree, a class D felony, conspiracy in the fifth degree, a class B misdemeanor and criminal trespass in the third degree, a class A misdemeanor, CNY Central reported.
“The swans have been here since 1905. And so we care for them, maintain them, feed them, do everything and stuff,” Whorrall concluded. “They’ve been ours forever. And we will continue. The public needs to know that this is not ending. We will continue to have swans and hopefully, at some point get back to normal.”