Hunters Not at Fault in Swan Decline

"Hunters are not a major cause for a decline in trumpeter swans," said Idaho Fish and Game Director Steve Huffaker, "and especially not in Idaho." A recent Los Angeles Times article, with a dateline of Island Park, implied that hunting is a major factor in a decline in swans in the tri-state area of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. "It isn't so," Huffaker repeated. "We don't even hunt swans in Idaho." There is a season on snow geese in Idaho, also a large white bird, but swans, either trumpeter or tundra swans, are rarely shot by mistake in that season. Some environmental groups have claimed that a season on tundra swans around the Great Salt Lake results in a significant number of trumpeter swans being accidentally shot. Trumpeter swans are being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Utah officials reported two trumpeters killed by hunters in the last season and none in the year before. Hunters are required to report if they kill a trumpeter accidentally, but there is no penalty and they are allowed to keep the swan. "So why wouldn't they report?" Huffaker asked. Idaho biologists are working hard to help trumpeter swans. In recent years, Idaho biologists have trapped trumpeters from the Island Park area and moved them to other locations in an effort to expand the population into unused habitat. During recent drought years, biologists have also salvaged eggs and cygnets (juvenile swans) from dried up ponds and raised the young in captivity for later release. Biologists in Idaho are also working to improve nesting and winter habitat for trumpeters. Tens of thousands of tundra swans migrate through Idaho every year and more than 3,000 trumpeters winter here. "There are lots of things that could cause the swan populations to appear to fluctuate," Huffaker said, "and no real reason to point to hunting as one of those reasons, especially in Idaho."