In a key ruling for conservation organizations, native bird species, and the Chesapeake Bay, a federal judge ruled that Mute Swans are not protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This opens the way for the state of Maryland to resume its control of the birds.

Mute swans are not native to the United States, and are voracious consumers of bay grasses, destroying the food source for native birds and crucial habitat for blue crabs and other marine life. The population of Mute Swans has exploded over the years from five accidentally-released birds in 1962 to more than 3,600 birds today.

Conservation organizations, including ABC and the National Audubon Society, were instrumental in the 2004 passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act (Bird Calls Vol. 9, No. 1), which exempts Mute Swans and other non-native species from the protections afforded to native birds by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). This legislation had been necessitated by The Fund for Animals, who had successfully won a court case the previous year that stopped the state of Maryland from killing Mute Swans based on the protections implied by the MBTA. But as soon as the new Reform Act was signed into law, the Fund for Animals sued again in federal court to block its implementation.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan should finally put the issue to rest. “The record in this case indicates that Congress did express a clear intent to exclude non-native species, including Mute Swans, from the protections afforded migratory birds by . . . the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” said the judge in his decision. There is no word yet from the state of Maryland as to when they will resume Mute Swan control.