LANSING, MI (AP)-- Plans by the state of Michigan to kill thousands of mute swans are drawing opposition by people who want voters to decide whether the birds should live or die.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the state Department of Natural Resources wants to reduce the mute swan population from about 15,500 to fewer than
2,000 by 2030. State officials say the birds are an invasive, nonnative species with a destructively voracious appetite for vegetation.
Karen Stamper of the Detroit suburb of Walled Lake is leading an effort to oppose the plans. The 46-year-old says the threat posed by the birds has been overblown. Efforts to block the move include an online petition.
Mute swans have been in Michigan for about a century.
