Bird lovers watch in horror as hunter guns down Tundra swan that rarely appears in Florida

[Submariner]

Just a maga hunter havin' some cruel fun.



Bird watchers eagerly gathered Saturday morning at Crowder Landing to confirm a rare sighting: two Tundra swans that migrated all the way to Florida.

But the bird lovers were horrified when they watched a hunter gun one of them down right before their eyes.

"We were screaming at him," Elizabeth Hawkins said. "Both birds were screaming. It was pretty distressing."

Hawkins, one of her friends and two other hunters at Lake Jackson witnessed the "needless killing" and immediately reported the incident to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The man shot at both large, all-white birds, which are federally-protected and can't be hunted in the state. One managed to fly away, but he tracked the other down in his kayak. Hawkins said it looked like he wrung the bird's neck, shoved it under water, then slung it onto his boat.

"Tundra swans, while seen in flocks during migration, separate in solitary pairs (and) mate for life," according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2024/01/29/bird-watchers-report-hunter-who-killed-protected-swan-at-lake-jackson/72395558007/