I would like to thank the members of the task force, who brought many perspectives on this issue to the table, for their hard work in developing these recommendations. The Task Force has also recommended that DNR develop an education program to help people understand how to avoid conflicts with mute swans, as well as on concerns about how mute swans interact with Maryland's aquatic ecosystems. The Task Force made no recommendations on the maintenance of any specific population numbers and agreed that mute swans should remain under their current legal status in Maryland as a protected game bird. Mute swans are native to Asia and were collected by European explorers as early as the Middle Ages for their beauty. Held in possession of royalty, mute swans not only graced royal landscapes, but also royal tables.
Mute swans continue to be a source of aesthetic pleasure and artistic inspiration for many people.
However, the Maryland Chesapeake Bay population of mute swans, which began when 5 birds escaped from captivity in the Miles River in 1962, doubled between1996 and 1999 to almost 4,000. According to a DNR population model, this population could double again in four years. Biologists and Bay ecologists are concerned about the existing impacts that mute swans are having, and potential impacts in the future as their numbers increase and the growth rate of their population accelerates. The Mute Swan Task Force was created to help compile all available information on mute swans and their interaction with native habitats and native species, as well as humans, and to create a foundation upon which to build a statewide management plan for mute swans, The Task Force was appointed two years ago by the DNR Secretary, and includes citizens with diverse perspectives on the exotic mute swan. After more than a year of discussions concerning the problems and alternatives, the Task Force has concluded their work.