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When most of us go to a park, we don't feel the need to harass the wildlife. Not some dope in Dublin - according to witnesses, a man was seen lifting a Phoenix Park swan up by its neck today.
Why the hell would anyone do that? I have no idea. Some people are absolute eejits. Take a look at these photos:
anyone know this gent? someone needs to put manners on him b 4 swan gets hurt @opw @PhoenixParks @DublinSPCA @Irishwildlife @OldDublinTown pic.twitter.com/rba2PEv8DA
— Brenda Malloy 🇮🇪🎶🎶🎶 (@dubliner24) May 4, 2017
According to Independent.ie, witness Brenda Malloy told RTE's Liveline that she witnessed the man assaulting the swan and grabbing it by its neck.
"The man was in an altercation with a swan. He was waving his arms in the air and the swan was pecking at him. His son was right next to him in a buggy," Brenda told Joe Duffy.
Brenda said she told the man to stop, but he didn't seem to hear her.
"He was pulling pretty hard. At first I said 'don't do that' but he didn't hear me. So I pulled out my camera and took the photographs.
"It's not nice for the son to see and it was dangerous.
"The swan was very aggressive. I think people should understand we're lucky to have Phoenix Park and people should be respectful of the wildlife and the park."
Niall Hatcher from BirdWatch Ireland told Liveline that the image was "very disturbing".
"It looks like the man is trying to pull the swan out of the water. It's very unsettling. Swans can be quite aggressive and that's understandable if they're trying to defend their eggs or chicks. It's worrying the treatment of the animal. It's illegal to injure a wild animal or interfere with it.
"It's nesting season so they're incubating their eggs and unfortunately we had quite a few reports of people harassing swans and killing them. They are quite vulnerable. They hold their ground and can knock someone to the ground, especially a young child", he said.
So sad - we hope the swan is OK and this eejit gets caught.
